spidersssssssssss

Yesterday, the exhibits were out in the front yard, just puttering. They came back in. "Uh.. mom.....(long pause) there are a lot of webs outside." I smiled and said, "Yes, I know." "No REALLY. Come look." So I did. They were floating wayyyyyyyyy up in the sky and it looked like there were thousands of them. After coming back inside, we called around and people in the neighboring two towns saw it too. The number was what amazed us. I mean, yes, I saw Charlotte's Web and, yes, I know spiders travel on the wind, but this many and this high up??

..anyway..
Found this article
http://www.temple-telegram.com
Spiders take flight as competition grows
People who have reported seeing what looks like spider webs floating in the air the last couple of days should know that, no, their eyes do not deceive them. What they are seeing is the “dragline” portion of spider webs. Not so obvious, unless one lands on your shoulder, is that actual spiders are attached to those silk draglines. “It’s called ballooning,” Bell County extension agent Dirk Aaron said Thursday afternoon, after a day of fielding calls from people curious about why there seemed to be all these spider webs floating in the air. “All the conditions have been just right for this to take place,” Aaron said. “We’ve had a wet year, and a few days of high humidity before the front blew in. These are mostly immature spiders. It’s a way for them to expand their range. “There are more than 900 spider species in Texas, so it’s impossible to say what kind they are. We only know what they’re doing.” The wet year has produced a lot of spiders, as anyone who spent much time outdoors this summer knows. That means a lot of competition for food, which can lead to nasty incidents of widespread fratricide. The ballooning process gives the spiders a chance to try their luck somewhere else, where maybe there won’t be so many little spiders competing for the same food. by Clay Coppedge