Spider!

OK, so we have found the HUGEST spiders outside our house this fall! I have a couple pictures of this second one. The first one built its web on our front porch, between the waist-high railing and the eavespout, and the second built its web between the ground and the first branch of a small tree in our yard. I don't know what they were intending to catch - cicadas? ground squirrels? tree squirrels? - but they're enormous!!

Each spider was probably the size of a buckeye, and very 3D instead of flat and leggy. We found them when they were building their webs, and it was fascinating to watch them because they were actually very fast! I will admit to some remorse for killing them, but deep-down they totally creeped me out so they had to go. Travis did the honors with some raid spray that says it kills spiders... and I hope it actually does. The thought has crossed my mind that the first spider survived the initial assault and then moved to the backyard.

Here are a few pictures:

Yeah, that looks like such a pleasant scene, I know. But the little bright fleck at the bottom of the pine tree is actually the spider! and the web went from the ground to that tree branch, which is probably 6 feet off the ground, and then back over to the base of the tree! Crazy!

Too bad the Cyclones choked today. Travis blames play-calling, but I wasn't paying enough attention to the details of the game to be able to concur. It didn't feel like a McCarney loss, though, so I guess some different ISU-fan agony is nicer than the same old.