Daring Jumping Spider has to be the best name ever.

I see Daring Jumping Spiders patrolling my porch pretty regularly. They are my favorite ‘cause they are bad-ass, all black with white dots and iridescent green teeth. I say hell yes to iridescent green teeth. They’re also big and quick and graceful. I am less fond of them when they are Inside Scaring-Me Spiders.

Where I am from in LA has miles of cinderblock sound walls lining busy streets. If you go out walking after dusk and look at the base of the wall, you see that every three or four feet is a black widow, hanging upside down in her web. The hourglasses are clear as anything. I wonder how many people know that, ‘cause I don’t see many other people out walking after dusk and I don’t know how many of them look down. Black widow after black widow for miles gives me the shivers and bad dreams once.