Aaahhhhh!!! Spider!!!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Does anyone know what type of spider KVixen's one is?

Black and yellow Garden spider:
http://www.pbase.com/rcm1840/image/48116303

[snapdragen]

Aren't they gorgeous! I had one in my garden last year, I think it was. It had built a very impressive web!

[Mr. Bloom]

I had this same kind of spider land on my leg while riding on labor day. It was huge and I was semi-freaked because I didn't know what kind of spider it was, and I was climbing and couldn't take my hand off the handle bars for about 30 seconds...to finally brush it off.

While I clearly know in hind sight that it wasn't poisonous (since I'm still alive) it was scary to see it come out of a tree, land on my leg, and see its size

[sundial]

Oh my gosh--I would have gone cuckoo if that landed on me! It's a wonder you didn't wreck trying to get it off you. I remember one nightmare I had that woke up my husband. It was a tarantula size spider that had swung down on a web and landed on my face.

[Tri Girl]

Beautiful? Yes. Creepy? Certainly.
Nature is amazing, and that is one beautiful, creepy spider. What a neat find!

[wackyjacky1]

Totally cool spider...but I would not want one to land on me!!!

A couple of years ago, right around Halloween, one of those built a web right outside my back door. It was so beautiful! But after a week or so, it just disappeared, web and all...

[SlowButSteady]

Growing up we called these "writing spiders" because the design in the webs resemble handwriting.

The old wives tale is that if the spider writes your name in her web, you're going to die.

They're beautiful animals.

[RoadRaven]

Black and yellow Garden spider:

What a boringly disappointing name... you'd think it would have some stunning name like "Garden Incandescence"...

[nancielle]

When I was growing up there was a field by our house that was loaded with these spiders, particularly around the milkweed plants (lots o' bugs attracted to those). We found them fascinating at how quickly they'd spin a cocoon around any insect unfortunate enough to land in their web...except for ants. They were equally quick in cutting them loose.

[andtckrtoo]

I almost had one of these in my face while horse back riding a while ago. I was out on a trail alone, and was watching something on the side of the trail. I turned just in time to pull my horse out of the spider's path. My heart was racing. I have a severe case of arachnophobia. Although, I am whimsical enough to wonder if the spider went back to the other spiders to tell tales about the one that got away....

Nice photos, though, thanks for sharing.

[Kvixen23]

We named her Agatha and really wanted to watch her.....however, when I got up this morning, she was gone

We did get to watch her consume one unlucky insect though

[tulip]

I have three at the moment. One outside my back door. She's to the side, so I don't walk into her! The others have each spun a web outside each of my bedroom windows. I feel protected! I've named them Hannah, Anna, and Nana.

[RoadRaven]

Tulip... that is awesome
Its so good to read about others who don't want to kill every single spider "just because"
We have lots of webs in our home and share the house with many spiders - the only ones that are not welcome are the "white-tails" with the nasty bite.

For the Hopi, the spider is very special, as the Spider Woman has led them from one world to the next.
We have no such story here in my country, but I do share the special place of women and spiders in Hopi culture with my students

[wildhawk]

Awesome!! Beautiful spider - thanks for sharing!! As an artist and naturalist, I LOVE seeing critters!! We get the huge golden silk spiders here in Florida and they build some massive webs in the woods. We also have wolf spiders and they are very large and hairy, but they love to feed on palmetto bugs which are nasty, so I live the wolfies. I had one living in my house for a few months and named him Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. My best friend has arachnophobia and refused to come over until Wolfgang was gone. Alas, my cat killed him in the hallway a few weeks ago so now my best friend will come visit again. The other day DH and I were riding our bikes at our local park when I yelled out “turn around!” A big, beautiful scarlet red dragonfly was lying on the bike path, deader than a doorknob. I collected her for a studio specimen (I like to draw and paint nature and have a variety of insect specimens - and I am absolutely anal about every wing and leg being correct!). That is why my DH keeps ziploc bags in our bike bags! I also remember running into big spider webs when I had horses - I always made sure that I wore a cowgirl hat with a wide brim just in case!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

The other day DH and I were riding our bikes at our local park when I yelled out “turn around!” A big, beautiful scarlet red dragonfly was lying on the bike path, deader than a doorknob. I collected her for a studio specimen (I like to draw and paint nature and have a variety of insect specimens - and I am absolutely anal about every wing and leg being correct!). That is why my DH keeps ziploc bags in our bike bags!

Yes I like to collect perfect dead 'specimens' too. Did you see my mounted tarantula skin in one of the threads I linked to above? I have a gorgeous huge green luna moth in a plexiglass box.