For years now, the brown widow spider population around here has been growing. I have been aware that they like to make their homes in crevices, including such things as unused hose bibs, and chain link fence posts and fittings. Normally they will hide during the day and emerge after sundown to feed. But today's blistering heat turned their metal homes into tiny ovens, driving them out into the comparitive cool of the mid-day 106-degree heat, where I took their picture. They did their best to remain in the slim shadows of the chain link hardware, gate latches and such. This is just a sample, but there were many. I stopped counting at 8.



The spider is blurry in this shot, but I like how the fence looks.


Proof of "widowhood". The hourglass.

Here was a family. The large female in the foreground with a baby one nearby. The male is out of focus in the background.