What Kind of Spider is That?!

Today I broke out the lawn chair.

It hit 70 degrees and the sun was shining.

And we have a patio (as of last summer). Time for some relaxation!

I was happily enjoying some quality time with my laptop, when suddenly I noticed a fairly large, hairy black spider sitting next to me on my lounge chair.

I flicked it off my chair and onto the patio.

That's when I noticed it had a RED/ORANGE spot on its back!

Since my only association with red spots on spiders is the BLACK WIDOW SPIDER, I was a little concerned.

(See, doesn't that look suspicious.)

So I decided to do some investigating. Black Widows don't live in Minnesota, right? So what the heck kind of spider is that?

As a side note, I actually like spiders. They are my friends. Not my enemies. In fact, when I see a spider in the house, I usually capture it in a glass and put it outside.

Spiders aren't my scary thing. Like mice.

If there is a mouse in my house, I'm up on a chair faster than you can say, "Jiminy Cricket." And as for snakes. I can't even talk about it.

But spiders are A-OK.

So I started looking around. I found several websites, including the University of Minnesota Extension website with a very informative article on Minnesota spiders. But my spider wasn't there.

In the Potentially Dangerous spiders article, I found a Northern Widow spider that looked similar to mine.

The Northern Widow spider is uncommon and less deadly than the Black Widow. But, it still can make you pretty darn sick if it bites you.

But, still it wasn't quite right.

So, I called U of MN Extension. No answer.

But I was determined. So, I looked up the author of the spider article and called him.

I know, I know, maybe I shouldn't be bothering university professors at 4:45 pm on their own personal office number, but hey, I punched in his last name and the number showed up.

So, I called.

He answered.

I very politely asked about my spider.

He assured me that it was not poisonous. He said it could be a Cobweb spider.

I told him we had lots of Jumping Spiders and Wolf Spiders.

He said, "That sounds exciting!"

You've gotta love entomologists.

I thanked him and hung up.

See, no harm done. But still no positive identification of my spider.

Just then, Mr. (or Ms.) Spider showed up again, ON MY LEG!

This time I flicked him off and my husband got a picture.

After a closer look, I now think my spider is a good, old Wolf Spider.

(See how hairy and wolfy he is?)

Even though I think spiders are fine creatures, I don't want one sitting on my leg while I Pinterest and Blog.

I'm glad my spider visitor is gone. He/She crawled up under my house siding and is staying put. And that's just fine with me.

Now I can get back to my Pinteresting.

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If anyone knows what kind of spider this is, please let me know. Is it a Wolf Spider after all? Or should I be wearing armor when I sit on my patio?