Was it black with a yellow pattern? I wouldn't expect an orchard spider to be under a log, but this spider is big, and beautiful, and weaves huge, amazing orb webs.

I would have sympathized with you totally if I had read this in my arachnophobic past. I almost became apoplectic every time I was startled by a spider. I would be surprised if no neighbor was ever tempted to call the police to come rescue the screaming woman who must surely be being killed somehow. Even the tiniest of spiders would elicit this overblown response.

What changed me? Immersion therapy you could call it; Years ago I moved into a house that had lots of spiders both outside and inside. I try to be in harmony with nature, so with some mental gyration, the outside spiders didn't bother me. I was gardening in their territory and they had to excuse me for terrifying them. Little by little I made my peace with the inside spiders also since I don't kill things and had to catch them to put them outside.

Last summer I moved a piece of ivy clinging to the foundation next to my garage door and the biggest holy-cow Wolf spider ran out. I left it alone and went about my business. Later, I came back from somewhere and my husband greeted me with eyes as big as saucers raving about the spider "as big as a Laborador!" he had "found" by the garage. Where was it? In the living room in a screened top aquarium! A pet! We kept it for the rest of the summer, absolutely fascinated by it. We let it go when we realized that it had an egg case and I didn't want hundreds of little baby spiders running around my living room. I have to say I was sad to see it go. My old self wouldn't have recognized me!

HereÂs hoping that you make peace with your phobias. Think of spiders as helpers in your garden. Yours was almost surely a wolf spider. It is better karma to let them live  especially a creature in her own element.

Deb

great story; thank you!
mindy

A coupleof years ago my husband and I were working around our compost pile and I had the bug scare of my life. It was not a spider but a scarab beetle. God this thing was huge, I am talking the size of my palm! I sreamed so loud and ran into the house. It was so big, my husband picked it up with a shovel and walked it across the road into the woods to "relocate" it. It took weeks for me to go near the compost pile again!

You want to see huge spiders, try Australia. We saw a huge one at the botanical gardens in the wine country. We asked and found out they are pretty common in that size "down under."

I agree, better to leave the burrowing spider alone. It's not likely to want to go anywhere near your home. I'm not sure of the habits of wolf spiders, but they may eat grubs or bugs that are harmful to your plants.

Fortunately the really nasty brown recluse spiders haven't made it north to Vermont, or to NE as a whole as far as I know. So most spiders here are only minimally venomous, even to a child or a pet. Spider bites are far less painful than a wasp or hornet sting. Now those strike fear into my heart!