I have a confession to make and it might sound a bit weird. I’ve been letting a tiny spider live in my bath/laundry room because it’s been eating up one of my pet peeves — gnats.

It always seems like with the change of seasons we have an uptick in the tiny flies. I’m pretty sure they live in the sink’s drain. Well I noticed what appeared to be a tiny spider living in a small makeup caddy I had on my counter.

I had recently cleaned it out and never put any products back inside. So this tiny spider took up residence. I also noticed it had been doing some great work to feed itself — a few, what appeared to be wrapped up pods, were scattered around in different compartments of the same caddy. I think those must be the gnats because I haven’t seen many of them lately.

I have to admit it was quite fascinating. I’m going to let him (or maybe it’s a her) stay for a while. If it gets too big I will probably have mercy on it and take it outside to live.

One might even say this is a “green” way to kill bugs. But I only really tolerate spiders from afar when they are outside, or in this case, when they are pretty small and not near the toilet or my bed. No one wants to get bit while going or sleeping, right?

I broke the news to my husband about the tiny spider. He likes them more than I do.

“You mean you’re keeping a pet spider and I had to get rid of my spider garden?” he quipped.

Yes, a couple years ago, I discovered in the weedy parking area beside where I store my vehicle there were a multitude of garden spiders and other types spinning their webs. I was OK with it at first but then they started getting too close to the house.

I told my hubby the spiders and weeds had to come down before the neighborhood kids and our son Henry got into them and got bit. Ouch!

Hanson can be reached at shanson@timesleaderonline.com.