The Comeback!

   Several years back, Son mentioned that we had no orb weaver spiders.  "It has been years since I have seen one." he said.  I thought about it for a few moments, then, had to agree.  Where had all of our spiders gone?  I mean, it is not like these spiders can hide very easily.  With webs that span about 6ft and the spider being the size of your hand, it was unreasonable to think that we were overlooking them.  We just had no spiders!

  A few years later, I was over the moon with excitement to find a single web!  Woohoo!  They were making a comeback!  That year, I carefully watched over the egg sac until the little ones all emerged.  We had babies!  From that point on, more and more of the spiders survived and now we have almost too many! (Nay, you can never have too many orb weavers!  Three webs are stretched across the back deck making going out that door a bit tricky.  Son and I never want to tear the webs.  Several more are between the fig trees and greenhouse.  Those are pretty safe as I just use the back door to the greenhouse.  And then, more are hanging in trees, down in the marsh and in the gardens.  (It is a good thing that I like these spiders!) 

  Today, however, Son came to me and said "You know how we think these spiders are big? You should see the ones behind the shed!"  Well, that meant one thing!  Yep, I grabbed the camera and followed him to the back side of the workshop.  Oh, my goodness!  There were webs strung everywhere!  And spiders!  Lovely spiders dotting those webs!  He took several photos for me since his height gave him and advantage.  He could get clear shots of the spiders.  Not to be outdone, I wriggled my way under the webs to get a "front view" of the creatures.  I was in perfect bliss!

  It is good to see the orb weavers have made a comeback.  These are the Golden Silk Orb Weavers that will leave their lovely golden egg sacs affixed to the shed, wall or branch come this month or September.  Then, I shall have to say goodbye to my beautiful friends and hope that the little ones stay safe over winter.  So glad they are back!