I know summer isn’t over, because I have an enormous spider in my kitchen.

That, by itself, isn’t so unusual. What is truly odd is that I don’t mind. I am, in fact, cheering him (or her) on to catch the flying insects which have also breeched my doorways, and there are plenty.

Yes, I live in something of a science experiment, courtesy of the warm weather and my ecologically inclined husband. He has the full support of my science-guy son, but not so much that of my daughter who loathes surprise visits from small things with six to eight legs. I used to be like her, absolutely horrified of insects appearing when you least expect them, but if you live with a suburban farm boy long enough, he’ll wear you down.

Apparently, 26 years is long enough. I have become almost nonchalant about finding a spider in my house, even the one that scurried off my bed this week. I can leave the massive ant colonies surrounding our house alone now. I don’t even get excited at the cloud of fruit flies, or if a bee stumbles in or a moth is bashing itself against my reading lamp. I’ve become almost stoic if, as mentioned, I have a big, fat spider in my kitchen, or on my porch, or in the windows, or between the cars.

My husband calls it a naturally balancing ecosystem. I call it the Bug Ritz-Carlton. I am certain that every homeowner around us has a monthly exterminator on retainer. Consequently, I am equally certain that the majority of our insect residents arrive with tiny, little suitcases. Add our lack of screens plus a host of ungroomed foliage and you get happy bugs marching in and out of my house.

I could do more, but thus far I only read up on the number of nontoxic bug repellents out there. Were I back in New York City with my cockroach roommates, I could use catnip. For ants, a bit of soapy water or cucumber peels.

And did you know ants will not cross cayenne pepper, citrus oil (can be soaked into a piece of string), lemon juice, cinnamon or coffee grounds?

And citrus is a natural flea deterrent. Apparently if you sponge your dog with dilute citrus oil, it will kill fleas instantly. Did I mention, the only good flea is a dead flea?

Yes, I still have some bug biases. I dislike flies because they are just nasty. I detest mosquitoes and fleas because they devour me. But out of the zillions of sextapeds on hand, I think I’m doing pretty well.

Meanwhile, I will just bide my time until the weather cools off and our friends with exoskeletons go off wherever bugs go in the winter. I’ll have my kitchen back at least until the first good Santa Ana wind whips up and we’re back to 90-degree bug hatching weather.

And if my kitchen spider doesn’t start catching his keep, I’m going out shopping for a hungry, house-trained gecko.