calisoga longitarsus, photography by Sara Atkins Photography.

How about that for a visitor? I can't believe I stood in one place long enough to capture this image. This last weekend while staying at my parents place (to shoot an amazing wedding, images soon to come) I thought I saw Shasta moving out of the corner of my eye.  It turns out it was this enormous creature. We think it is a Calistoga longitarsus, also known as a false tarantula. It is a California native and is one of the 'small' mygalamorph spiders. Right, small.  All I know is that it makes the floor boards creek when it walks and it is creepy. Actually, the only truly creepy thing about it is that it was in the house. I would probably have thought it was a great find if I didn't have to think about hall of his brothers and sisters waiting for me in my bed.  After seeing such a huge spider I was pretty certain that I had spiders crawling on me the rest of the weekend. It didn't help that Shelly's husband, Jamison, kept pointing out those phantom spiders on my shoulders.