This is our old stove, a Magic Chef c.1930s. It was in our old farmhouse when we bought it, and I used it for the first couple of years. It only has three working burners, but the oven worked and as the cook I was happy. But we worked on the house and moved the kitchen space and I got a modern stove. After renovating the old kitchen space (some years later) the old stove was moved and currently resides against my kitchen sink, no longer functional except as a horizontal space to put things.
One recent morning I came down to find a spider web covering the old oven outlet and attached to a mason jar on the sink drainboard. There was an odd hole/tunnel in the web, unlike anything I had ever seen.After consulting an old children’s paperback about spiders, and the Wikipedia, I determined that the web was spun by Tegenaria domestica or the barn funnel weaver spider. We have seen the spider come up to the top of the stove pipe, but it is very shy and retreats quickly. I guess its’ web has been successful because it has been a week now and the spider is still lively.
I did give the web a swipe, but it was rebuilt the next morning. This spider is active at night. What to do? Getting rid of the web means getting rid of the spider, and that means cleaning out the oven. Hmmmm.
By the way, the stove is for sale. The enamelwork is in excellent shape. Anyone interested?