Judy is having trouble picking the cherry-tomatoes in our back yard.  We have six plants planted in two wooden containers in the back yard which, because of the abundant sunshine and occasional rain shower, just keep producing more and more tomatoes.  But it is now mid-September and there are small creatures that have matured and are now occupying the plants in abundance.  Judy has given names such as Harriet, Mildred, Lulu and Clara to the numerous little critters.  There are very few male occupants on the plants because the females tend to devour them after mating with them. 
In the world of spiders the male really does get used and abused.
All the spiders in our backyard, and there are many, are mottled brown in color, build orb webs and are called Araneus diadematus. That’s the scientific name; most people call them Garden Spiders.  Of course the scientific name is only important if you’re really into spiders, which in my experience includes very few people.  Fortunately I have managed to influence Judy to at least try to avoid damaging their webs as she picks the tomatoes.  I point out to her that there is a spider, Nephila, which resides in the tropics and builds a giant orb web that is about 40 inches in diameter and strong enough to be used by humans to catch fish in.  This spider catches small birds and mammals in its web and then eats them.  We would never get the cherry-tomatoes picked if one of those suckers was in our little garden.
Judy’s daughter, Deanna, used to catch spiders when she was attending college down in Seattle.  She was living in a basement apartment and kept discovering spiders running across the floor.  She was not the least bit interested in spiders and would cover them with empty jars, jar lids, ashtrays or anything  else that was available. 
In Illinois there is a large black and yellow spider that would build a large orb web between  the rows of corn in the Fall.  Photographers love this spider because of the beautiful designs the dew laden webs create on a Fall morning as you look down a row of corn.  The body of this spider is about 1.5 inches long and the eight legs will stretch out to cover your entire hand.  I know this for a fact because one of these spiders bit me on the back of my hand. 
It was a Fall morning and I was walking through a corn field  when I felt this dull pain starting in my hand and going all the way up to my shoulder.  When I looked down at my hand I felt both surprise and shock at seeing the spider with its small fangs sunk into my skin.  I brushed the spider off and saw that a lump, similar to a bee sting, had appeared on the back of my hand.  I realized I had swung my hand through the spider’ s web which probably really pissed her off after all the work it took to build the web. 
I’ve had one other spider crawling on my hand. The year was 1958 and it was at Camp Pendleton, California and it was a tarantula.  I was in the last 4 weeks of Marine Boot Camp at what was called Basic Infantry Training.   It was evening and some of the recruits had found a large tarantula and were poking at it with sticks.  I knelt down and placed my hand in front of the spider and he(or she) climbed aboard and started moving up my arm.  Some of the Marines asked me if I was crazy but I was pretty sure the spider wouldn’t bite me as long as I didn’t apply any type of pressure to it.  I walked out away from the billets and released it and watched as the tarantula moved off into the brush. 
During the 4 weeks of infantry training you no longer have a Drill Instructor but have what is called a Troop Leader.  The next morning the Troop Leader, a sergeant, informed me that I was now the official spider, scorpion and snake remover for the platoon.  He also made it clear that if he ever found an F-ing spider, scorpion or snake in his quarters he would know who to F-ing blame for it and I would be one sorry son of a bitch.
Not everyone appreciates spiders.