Arachnophotos

I’ve never made a secret of my dislike for spiders. There are people for whom I have great respect who think spiders make great pets, but I’d just as soon invite a family of cobras to live in our bedroom as tolerate a single eight legged freak.

We recently transplanted a couple of tall junipers into slightly larger and more stable pots, and each of them was home to at least one of these:

Black widow spider

Perhaps you don’t recognize it; perhaps this angle will help:

Black widow spider

Even the photos give me the willies. And because we’ve had some favorable weather conditions this summer, there are a bunch of these lovely creatures around the house (thankfully all on the outside). [In the interest of full disclosure and without a shred of remorse, I will report that this particular black widow was in the throes of death, thanks to my good pal Raid.]

That’s not to say that I can’t appreciate the skill of certain of the species in creating things of beauty, even if they’ll never themselves be objects of my desire. This morning, while enjoying a cup of coffee and the newspaper on the front porch this morning before church, I noticed the following installation, which had been constructed overnight. The light was just right for a few photos.

Spider web
Spider web
Spider web

In the interest of full disclosure…the little guy in the first two photos is still busy at work, doing whatever his spidery little heart desires. I’m not a total monster…as long as he stays on his side of the car seat.

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