Confession; sometimes I do not have a clue what to write. At times like this, I look around for anything to wax literary on, and I often surprise myself. I look out my window and see a Banana Spider, or to be correct, a Golden Orb-weaver Spider, or even to be more correct, a Golden Silk Orb-weaver Spider. They are so named for their ability to weave elaborate webs that are multi-dimensional, hence, the orb, and the silk comes from the thick strands that are yellow.

I love watching the spiders day-to-day. If left alone, their webs will extend in many directions and take over the side of a house, or a tree. I find it fascinating to walk around their webs, looking at them from different angles and seeing how the light plays around inside them. They are serious pieces of architecture.

This year, right outside our garage, between the house and a tree, no less than three were making the most elaborate and dense web I have ever seen. I enjoyed them very much. When you stood to look at them, they were so close that you could follow an individual strand of web around and see how the spider had involved it with others on the opposite side of the orb. The webs are reported to be so dense that they have been known to ensnare small birds, and the one by the house was growing to be that big. Someone told me once that the webs were being researched to be used in body armor, and that is where the idea of carbon fiber came from. I cannot confirm this, but if it isn’t true, it ought to be.

The Admiral does not share my enthusiasm for these eight legged creatures. As a matter of fact, she loathes them, but with admonitions such as, “Leave my spiders alone,” she is tolerant, at least until I am out of town.

As Princess the Elder and I were traveling, she demolished the web structure by the house. She said the orb had started to extend past the front of the garage causing her to have to circumnavigate the mess every time she wanted to leave. I wish I could have seen it. I did call her a wicked woman for destroying it. I am still paying for that.

I admit that I admire the critters from afar. When I am on the tractor mowing, and do not see one strung between trees and drive through it, I get a little freaked. The web is like glue and takes forever to get it off your face. The removal goes much faster when I see the occupant of the web scurrying across my chest. Once, I finished mowing about an hour after such an encounter only to discover one of these giants on me. It was my good fortune that no one was watching as I did a fast strip right there in the yard.

I do like the spiders, really I do, and it has been fun to share some thoughts about them, but I am betting that you hope I do not have too many of these stupors of thought in regards as to what to write about. Some of you are worrying that snakes might be for next week.

David Wilson Atwood is a local writer whose human-interest columns offer a unique perspective. He may be contacted, at www.starchasers.us or david@starchasers.us.