Brown recluse? Pshaw! That's a black widow!

I was wrong--that's a black widow there in the last pic from two posts ago. Apparently they aren't black. Who knew? Apparently that red hourglass shape visible on it's thorax (or whatever, I have no idea about spider anatomy) that you can't see in this photo, but we could see in person, is Mother Nature jumping up and down screeching, "danger, danger!" a la vintage Steve Irwin. Well thank goodness that the day I saw that spider, I had the good sense not to open my garage door (and thereby position my hand within striking distance of spider) and instead run to find my camera. Yes, I focused on taking a photo of the doomed spider, while all three children were left unattended in a stroller (and standing next to it) without the breaks set, all the way across the street and next to some desert scrub where indeed a whole coven of spiders could very well have been waiting to attack them.

PSA: do not EVER under ANY circumstances Google for spider images. Really, trust me on this one. If you're hoping to match a dead spider body in a baggie on your kitchen table to something you can find on the internet, just.... don't. Just assume the worst and move on. Collect your children once more for a group hug, and carry some Raid (or just Aqua Net) on a keychain until your children are old enough to trust not to chase/eat a spider. I'm just saying. Whatever is entombed in that Ziplock bag, all soggy from the hairspray or whatever, is dead and therefore less fearsome than the world that is Google Images. I think I shaved off about 45 minutes from my life span by doing this. [[shudder]]