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Musings from the Back Porch – Garden Spider

Okay, this post is more appropriately about a musing looking out from the bedroom window, but same difference . . .  I remember the first time I saw a garden spider – it was here in Texas.  Although they also inhabit Colorado (my former home state) I had never seen one there – maybe because we lived at 9,000 feet?  Anyhow, a big, beautiful female had spun a web on our front gate.  I remember checking on her daily as I made my way out and in the gate heading to and from work.  She grew quite large over time and, of course, one day her web was empty.  She’d either moved on or was eaten by another predator higher up on the food chain.

Photo Aug 24, 7 58 39 PMGarden spiders are common in gardens, orchards, forest edges, old fields, farms, and around homes.  Their large webs are usually decorated with a bold, zigzag band of silk, with the spider occupying the center, hanging head down.  Their web is usually eaten and rebuilt every day.  If you’ve never watched a spider build a web you are missing one of nature’s most amazing shows!

If you’re like me, you welcome the addition of garden spiders . . . or other spiders for that matter . . . to your homestead – they eat insects that jump or fly, including pesky mosquitoes.  When I was a child I went with my parents to visit a friend of theirs in Michigan.  I remember sitting on the hearth of the fireplace and seeing a spider crawling along the wooden floor.  I stepped on it, unceremoniously.  To this day I remember a lesson I was taught after that act:  Spiders kill bugs we’d rather not have around, so it’s best to let them be.  I’ve followed that wisdom imparted to me over the years . . . okay, black widows and brown recluse in inhabited areas excepted.  We all have our limits!

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