Tanantula!
This is the uninvited guest I accidentally brought into the house
from the pond when I got up early one
morning and went out in my long bathrobe to
look for any dragonflies that might be emerging from the pond. Without
knowing it I brought in this tarantula! It's about 1
1/2 " long body-wise and hairy and HUGE when you then add in the size with those longs legs! We
guess that it got onto my bathrobe as I was stooping down around the
pond and then got carried into the house where I found it just a bit later
sitting at the glass sliding door to the kitchen wanting out with the cats!
That's the door that I'd gone in and out of to check the pond.
And yes, I was a bit unnerved! First one we've ever seen here! (1996)
Then in 1998 we were again able to sight one! This one had died, apparently of natural causes, on a piece of wood we have at the pond edge in the 'shady bog' area. Click here for a close up (my you are brave!) or here if you'd just as soon see it at a distance (don't blame you!)!