Spider

The bugs and insects here never cease to amaze me, and gross me out.  They are always so huge and always seem to be all over the place.  One of the things I like about winter here is the fact there are no bugs around.  They could congregate around our house and yard because we don't spray our house like most people here do, so the bugs and insects find a safe haven around our place from poisonous chemicals.

The kids and I were sitting outside on the front porch when I glanced over to my right and saw this :

and fought back the urge to scream.  I've never seen a spider like this before, so the kids and I sat and stared at it for awhile and I was completely impressed by the zig-zag doing down the middle of the web!  Then we went inside and I googled it to make sure it wasn't poisonous or anything, if it was it would have died.  Well, it would have died when Royal came home.

I found out it is just a black and yellow garden spider and is quite common in the lower half of the 48 states, which would also explain why I never saw one in Washington.  It's a non aggressive spider, but I guess will bite if they feel attacked.  So, the kids and I have decided to adopt the spider and they check on it all the time, but from a bit of a distance.  This spider is most likely a female since it's body is about an inch long and the males don't get that big.  The males have a bit of a tough life.  They roam around looking for a girl and when they find one, they slowly approach their web, but always have a drop line ready in case the female attacks it.  Then once they mate, the male dies, and the female eats it.  Nice.