When the Spider Hits the Fan...

Letting the dogs out in the back yard early one morning, I was arrested by a peculiar sight: a spider suspended on a line between a chair and the ceiling fan on the porch. When I approached she clambered up into the nob of the pull chain.

Unable to identify the species, I snapped some pictures before going to work. Later on she was still scrunched up in that nob! That night, I encountered a large orb web stretched between the chair, the fan, and the floor. Mystery solved: she was a barn spider, scientifically known as Neoscona crucifera. Not very large, she was probably a juvenile or a young adult. I was delighted that I could just sit down across from her and take as many photos as I wanted.

Unfortunately the location of the web was simply unfeasible. The dogs would easily walk right through it. My parents chased her down under the floor, where she may have built another web.