Short Encounter

Nothing quite compares to the thrill of walking out your backdoor in the dark of the early morning to feed your cats and finding yourself face-to-face with a yellow garden spider with its web wrapped around your head. It’s an arm thrashing thrill. I’m pretty sure the spider was equally excited. I mean, as meals go, I would have been a big one. But I got away, fed the cats, and helped the spider relocate.

I suppose I only have myself to blame. I had a yellow garden spider on the back porch last year by the door to the attic and I let it be. It ate mosquitoes, hung its egg sack, and disappeared when the cold came. I imagine this year's spider was part of that brood, which might explain why it thought building a web across my doorway was a good idea. I just wish it had taken after one of its sisters who spun her web out by the front gate. Afterall, we have a big, spider-ready yard, with lots of tall plants and trees perfect for raising a spider family.

Of course, now that I think about it, what if this spider was a male. The one I chased off wasn’t as big as the one by the front gate, and the literature says the female spider is nearly four times the size of a male. I should have taken him out there and made introductions. I guess I’m not really cut out to be a spider match maker, which is probably for the best. Although, when your life cycle is a year, maybe you’re up for all the help you can get even if it is a big human walking through your web.