One day i arrived home from work to find Charlotte back on the porch. At first i was very concerned because i liked the thought of her being some place the praying mantises didn’t know to look for her. But then i realized, it was not Charlotte. The spider was smaller than Charlotte. Who was i looking at? Maybe Ruby? I sauntered over to the shed. Ruby was hanging in her web on the shed. I clapped my hands in delight. Another one! Another golden orb weaver! What an immensely happy surprise! This spider was not afraid of anything. She was more assertive than both ruby and charlotte though she was a tad bit smaller than them. She followed the movements of myself and the dogs as we walked around her web. As she was a bit more bold than the other two spiders and very regal, i decided to name her odessa. I ran around the house to tell Charlotte about the newcomer. As i did i passed the well house and a set of slender legs caught my eye.
Another one! This one was smaller than all the others, a little mini golden orb weaver. She was missing a leg. It looked as if she had already tangled with a predator and lost the battle but escaped with her life. She did everything the other spiders could do. She just took a little bit longer than her larger cousins. She used an alternate leg to pull and place the threads of her web as she was constructing it. All the other spiders used their back leg but this little bitty spider only had one back leg. So she stood on the back leg and used a middle leg to place the threads. It took her longer but she got it done. This little spider was spunky and resourceful. I decided to name her piper.
Now i had an entire crew of mosquito-eating night-shift working spiders. Within 2 weeks i could stand on the porch while the dogs played without a single mosquito bite. It was lovely.