August 29 - Thursday - Real spiders and the City Club

We have had three golden orb spiders in the back yard this summer.  Based solely on size, I believe there were two females and one male.  The females had three-foot webs that were almost parallel about a foot apart.  Their abdomens swelled to several times their original size so I think they were going to give birth.  They disappeared about a week apart.  I think their part is done.

The male is still there, about eight feet away.

Fascinating stuff.

Expanded abdomen.
You can see the other female's web to the right.

The second female eating a june beetle.

Larger view of the web.

The male is much smaller
but since I could get closer he may look larger.

He appears to be missing his shorter leg on the right.

Thursday evening we had a dinner at the City Club which is high up in a downtown skyscraper.  Dinner was great and the view was wonderful.

The new baseball stadium
under construction

A front moving in at sunset.

A Panthers game in progress
just past the new Romare Bearden Park.

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