Sure enough, about 2 weeks ago, she built a sac one night and attached it quite securely to the glass and door frame. The egg sac is about 3-4 feet off center of the main web, but still very accessible by Charlotte. The heavy concentrations of silk that look like small cotton balls are attaching points to the glass. She reinforced each guideline with a strong footing. Ultimately, the sac is suspended in the middle of an intricate network. In approximately 150 days from the first of August, the little ones will find their way out of an overcrowded temporary apartment. Instinctively, by throwing out a single strand of silk they will take flight in the wind to a new home of their own beginning the process their mother did the season before.

It has been a while since we last spoke, but life has been full. One of the things we have been experiencing together is the growth of another life. A couple months ago we had a squatter come to make her home on our glass door leading out to the back deck. If you don't recognize her, she is a writing spider just like Charlotte in Charlotte's Web. True to the story, she has been eating well and growing in size.
Christie researched her and found out that she will rebuild the web every night and eventually an egg sac that holds approximately 1000 baby spiders. She potentially could produce 4 of these before the Summer wanes to Fall. First frost will typically take her life, but a legacy of hundreds will be protected in the sealed igloo so meticulously built 5 months prior. Their father will never be known by them. He is only in the web long enough to mate and then head off in search of another Charlotte. In his pursuit of other Charlotte's, he forgets to eat and usually dies of starvation. Occasionally, this makes for the meal of his last partnership.

to be continued ...