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:

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

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.

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.