Since I left my job, I have been letting myself go back to what is normal schedule for me. I’m a night owl, so that means I’m up half the night, but like to sleep in for much of the morning. Since I’m up late, I’ve been putting the dogs up late, too. For the past couple weeks when I’ve been outside late there has been a spider that has been spinning some gorgeous webs every night out by the dog house. It’s so dark out there that even with a flashlight I haven’t been able to identify the spider. Every morning the spider and the web are both completely gone. I had playfully nicknamed it the “Night Visitor. Even when I’ve been up fairly early, it’s already gone. Then last week I finally caught it in the process of taking down the web and I was able to identify it as a female spotted orb weaver (Neoscona crucifera), which was what I had been suspecting. This particular species of orb weaver is well known for its unusual habit of weaving and dismantling it web each night. It was building the web near the motion detector light out by the dog house. It’s a well protected area and the light attracts flying insects, plenty of which I’m sure get caught in the web. It’s no longer out in that spot every night, but I do see it there several times a week. I’m not a spider, but it seems to me that this one has found itself a pretty hot spot.