BIG Brown Spider (hairy face, white spots, striped legs & large abdomen)

Above my front door is a spider couple, who invites their spider friends for awesome parties... they jam out to my satellite radio music while eating moths & flies who are attracted to my porch light at night.
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These spiders are actually shades of brown and not the silver gray color in these two close up pics below - the color looks different then reality because the flash on the camera washed out the browns, so when trying to ID this spider go by the markings and not the color.
There are two spiders (the ones pictured here) living together in the same crack above the door, and the interesting thing is they let other spiders live right near them too - although I imagine sometimes things can get out of hand and the big ones might eat their smaller friends. It happens to us all, at least metaphorically.

This pic below is more the true color brown...

Check out those GOLDEN Nugget Eyeballs!

XOxooxo

Garter Snake, Dark Brown With Yellow Stripes

I found this garter snake under a piece of wet cardboard when I was cleaning up outside this morning! We were both super surprised to see each other - the snake was really nervous and I suppose that's because they are one of the most harmless snakes you can possibly run into...it still can bite but it won't be one wrought with venom. This one just stuck it's tongue out at me a few times before quickly slithering off into the tall grass.
Now here's a fun fact that I actually guessed before I found the answer - the word garter was chosen to describe the snake because someone (I bet a man) along the way thought the two long stripes up the snakes skin resembled the women's article of clothing that kept her stockings up, or nowadays accents some saucy lingerie. Pretty awesome.
XoXo