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I've heard that if you see a lot of spiders, the winter will be a long one.

Today, I found this little critter on the backside of one of my trashcans, before sitting it in my vehicle for the Mandantory Weekend Dump Run...

Most Black Widows have underside red marking; but I've never seen a redback version before this one...

"Redback Spiders are found throughout Australia. They are common in disturbed and urban areas. They belong to the Family Theridiidae, which is found worldwide. The notorious Black Widow Spider (Latrodectus sp) of the United States is a close relative of the Redback Spider, and only differs in appearance by the absence of a red dorsal stripe. Other species of Latrodectus occur in the Africa Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Europe and North and South America."

The 'spots' aren't as strong as those on the Redback at the link above. Maybe that's because she's a recent immigrant, and is trying to assimilate into the native culture...some other immigrants could take that approach, huh? Maybe she's a guest worker, and is just here because our local BW's won't eat enough of the worst of the insect population anymore; they just want the fat, juicy ones...