Orbweaver

We went out on the deck to enjoy a weekend evening, and [The Man I Love] said - "Wait a minute. Before you sit down, let me sweep away the spider over your chair."

A large spiderweb had been built from the eaves overhanging my wicker deck chair, and at its center was its builder.

"No, wait," I said, "let me take a picture first."

It took some gymnastics, me standing on the chair but NOT putting my head into the web; him shining a flashlight on the spider while I wobbled and snapped away, but I got a couple of good pictures.

After looking up spiders, I think this one is Araneus cavaticus, also called a barn spider. They are among the group of spiders known as Orbweavers, due to their large, impressive circular webs that are anchored to trees and buildings.

They range throughout the US. They hide during the day and come out at night - hence our spidey's activity as dusk fell. They are not known to bite people.

They're hairy and brown, with striped legs, and on the underside of the abdomen is a square-ish black patch with two white marks on either side.They catch moths and other flying insects. Although they have eight eyes, they have poor vision, and sense their prey by feeling the vibrations of the web.

Most orbweavers you see on webs are female. Charlotte, the spider in E.B. White's classic children's book "Charlotte's Web" was an Araneus cavaticus - in the book she even introduces herself as Charlotte A. Cavaticus.

After I took a few photos, we got a broom and gently scooped up the spider web so it clung to the bristles. Then we lowered it down over the deck railing, and released the spider onto the umbrella on the lower deck's picnic table. The spider quickly crawled away from us, ready to find another place to anchor her web.

Some spider!