If you're gonna live in Florida...

If you're gonna live in Florida ya gotta put up with the bugs.

I snapped this picture about 6:30 this evening. This bad boy is a very common spider here in north central Florida.
You can't really get a true picture of how big this sucker is but if you were to lay a ruler from the tip of the upper left leg to the tip of the lower right leg it would measure about 5 inches. And this one is only average. I've seen them half again as big. If you smack them hard enough with a board they fly a long way!!

If you wonder where I found it let me give you a hint. The horizontal boards in the background are the ceiling rafters of my back patio. Yep, this friendly feller was hanging outside my house. I guess he was trying to make a quick meal out of the flying bugs that buzz around in the evening. He looked a little extra hungry and I noticed him eyeing Charlie so I told him to stay clear.

Some people call them Banana Spiders, some call them Wood Spiders.

I call him dead...