The Year of the Spider?

Lots of people are having run-ins with spiders this year. I've seen more of them in my own garden this fall than I ever have... but none of mine are quite as big as those that Carol's sister is hosting. I admit that I do have a favorite spider amongst the denizens of my yard. I don't know how well you can see the web in front of my leaded glass window in this picture, but a 7-legged spider has taken up residence there. (Yes, 7... his left front leg is missing, but that doesn't seem to slow him down a whole lot.)

The storm window was removed in early June so that I could repaint the window sill. I stripped off the old cracked paint, primed, and got two coats of the dark brown paint on before we hit a rainy spell. The only steps left were to clean the paint spatters (some from me, some from previous owners) off of the glass with a straight razor and then carefully add a final coat of brown.

By the time I got back up on my ladder a week later, the spider had moved in. I didn't think that he was going to catch much up in that high window--it's a good 10ft. off of the ground--so I decided to finish off the other two and then come back to this one when he'd left for buggier pastures.

I'm still waiting for him to leave, in fact... but at this point it seems as though he's got a lease through the first frost. He travels the web during the evenings, but during the day he crawls up to the top of the web and hangs out on a little spider-sized "shelf" that the inside of the storm window provides.

I like to stand on my stair landing, just inside the window, and check on him as he naps the day away--he looks so snug and comfortable there. I haven't been able to get a good picture of him, though, because he's very camera shy and the old glass is uneven enough that it distorts anything I try to take from the inside.

So I'll just enjoy my temporary pet spider until it gets too cold for him... and postpone my plans to finish that window until next spring.