Creepy Crawlies!

OK, so I found one reason that I'm not too keen on North Carolina. That would be the bug population. Yes, we had bugs in the desert in California, but they seemed to live in fear of humans...the bugs out here kind of like to invade my space and get in the way. So anyway, I was watering my cute little pansies this morning, and looked over to see this lovely new neighbor:

The spider isn't HUGE, but his body is probably about the size of a quarter. But did I mention he's on MY deck in MY backyard? Ew. Now I have the creepy crawlies, so it's time to call the pest control people. It's a huge web - spans a roughly a 5 foot area...but the beauty of the web is ruined by the creepiness of the spider. Anyway, I should go - I have to get this thing killed before Tyler sees it and adopts it as our new pet - he will lecture me on the importance of spiders and tell me that this spider isn't going to hurt me...but then when Tyler turns his back, the spider hisses at me and starts to sharpen his fangs. I swear! :)