down came the rain and washed the spider out

But, don't worry. She rebuilt. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain and the not so itsy spider put up her web again.

Meet Lottie. Yeah, it's not the most creative name for a spider, but honestly, I did not expect to have such a long relationship with her. It's been over 2 and a half weeks now! She is apparently quite comfortable outside out living room window. After about a week, I thought she was dead. There were never any, well, snacks in her web so I assumed she starved to death and was just stuck there. I asked my wonderful Bug Man about her and he said she was a "Good spider. She'll eat a lot of bugs. One family I work for named theirs Fred. They kept reminding me not to kill Fred." Well, after that - how could I ask him to remove her? She did start moving, so I knew she was alive. And not to be outdone by Jerry's other family, I decided we should name her. Now, you have to admit that Charlotte with a nick name of Lottie is better than Fred, right?

We had a really bad thunderstorm late last week. The rain was the typical NC downpour and the lightning and thunder were coming right together for more than an hour. The very scary part is that a home in our neighborhood was destroyed. The lightning hit the ground and ignited the buried electrical wires causing a house fire. 2 parents, 4 children and 2 dogs all escaped safely! But, their home was lost. Because it was an electrical fire in the walls, the firefighters could enter and then find they had to retreat due to a new flare up. The amazing thing that they did for this family was that each time they were forced to leave the home, they grabbed photos off the walls. They did a small part to safely save some memories for this family. Even today, when you drive by it with your car windows closed, you can smell it.

After the storm, Lottie was gone. At that point, I did not know about the house fire. I fully understand the perspective of the whole ordeal. But, at that time, I just found myself a touch sad because my spider buddy was gone. Honestly, I didn't think she survived the downpour. I looked out once and she seemed to be draped funny. I figured she did not survive.

Imagine my silly shock and tiny excitement to see her back the following morning, rebuilding! She is quite the seamstress. It's neat to watch her repair the web when it needs it. She still seems to not catch anything. Perhaps she has a "pantry" somewhere nearby that I cannot see.

So, I hope she stays outside the window for a nice long time. Gretchen loves saying good morning to her. And for me... I like knowing she is still outside! If I can see her out my window, she isn't inside my windows!!!


Here she is after a lighter rain. She's covered in dew drops.