Saturday, September 20, 2008

a charlotte of our own

just outside the door from where i sit and type, a beautiful orb weaver spider has laid an egg sac.  she is so beautiful that i just had to call for the kids and show them.  they decided that she was just like charlotte in "charlotte's web," so we have dubbed her "charlotte" in honor of the character.  here she is, watching over her unhatched babies between the rungs of our side porch:

here is a bit closer on her underside...

and a bit closer on the egg sac...

and here she is from the front.  how lovely to find such a treasure!  we'll keep an eye on her and her babies... maybe we'll have a real learning experience if we see them hatch!




9 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, wow! The photos are beautiful yet creepy! :) I am seriously afraid of spiders (yet I live in the country)! My husband keeps reminding me that spiders have their place in the world. They trap all the flies, mosquitoes and other insects that we don't want to have around.

Great photos!

J said...

Yay for spiders to eat the mosquitoes, etc. I'm glad she's outside, too. I'm not thrilled with the idea of spiders inside. Maya's allergic to spider bites. Not horribly allergic, just puffs up and gets itchy, but still.

Mr. L said...

If it weren't for the homeschool benefit of seeing the spiders hatch, would there have been another picture? "Here they are being blasted with pesticide..."

Mrs. L is seriously allergic to bites, so we couldn't let something like this stay even though it's a cool process. :(

Heidi said...

We just took photos of a giant gray spider living on our porch ceiling yesterday. I will post it later. I would be a little nervous to see all the babies, so many babies...

Anonymous said...

AMAZING!!! My kid loves the itsty bitsy spider song! I'll have to show him these photos later! Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Isn't nature amazing? What a fantastic Momma.

J said...

Happy Thanksgiving. :)

Unknown said...

You've been a naughty blogger just as I have been. I just got back into it and I feel so bad for neglecting it for so long. I love your pictures, by the way. She kind of looks like a banana spider.

karmic said...

I loved the pics of the spider. Truly a beautiful creature.