About a month ago, we noticed a yellow and black garden spider had made a web next to the garage door and the light next to the garage. We were excited b/c we've seen these spiders before. They are striking to look at w/ their yellow and black markings and the fact that they 'sew' a zig-zag design into their webs. (These spiders used to show up every fall in the shrubbery outside my bedroom when I was in high school. I enjoyed their zig-zag creations then too.) A few times, Nathan and Trevor would try to catch a moth and throw it into her web for "dinner". I thought this was a little mean, but one successful throw proved to be very interesting. We were all able to sit and watch her quickly wrap the moth in her web and prepare him for feasting. It was facsinating. She became somewhat of a focal point for the four of us. We'd check each morning to see if she was still there. She "hung" in there even through some really STRONG winds and a pretty powerful storm one night. 
Over the past week or so, we've noticed that our friendly spider has slowed down a bit. She's not sitting in her web as she had been. We figured her time was about up. Yet, she continued to stay by the garage light and the remants of the web she'd lived on. Tuesday evening, Nathan noticed a small ball-like creation on her web. An egg-sack. I noticed it Wednesday morning. It's about the size of a paddle-ball ball. She attached it to her web and was sitting nearby. Both of us realized, her time was nearly over for sure now. It was just like the movie "Charlotte's Web". In the movie, Charlotte is a spider who spins webs in the crook of a barn opening that have words describing Wilbur the pig. She amazes everyone and ultimately saves Wilbur from butchering. However, near the end of the movie, Charlotte slows down and explains to Wilbur she is dying and mentions her egg sack of babies. Charlotte dies and Wilbur watches over the egg sack until the babies hatch. It's very touching. Yesterday was very windy and very cool....even sleeting in the afternoon. I left the house midday to run some errands and noticed she had grabbed hold of the sack....I'm guessing to secure it from the wind. I know she's a spider, but this really touched me. What a sweet mommy spider. We've so enjoyed watching her and it's sad to think she will die.
This morning, we woke up to a hard freeze. Everything is covered w/ a thick frost. My mind wondered how our little spider fared in the cold. As we left for school, we saw that she had indeed died. She had secured her egg sack even more into her web and was dangling below. We're all a little disheartened. It's sad to see and we know that's the "circle of life"....but it's still sad. (Weird isn't it? It's a spider!!! We are questioning ourselves and the sadness over a spider?!? But how neat to experience this bit of nature in ways we've never seen before!) :o) 
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