My New Friend

The other morning I woke up early to see a huge spider on the ceiling directly over my head. It was about 5 inches across and brown in color. I wanted to capture it and take it outside so I stood on a chair with a pot. That's when I found out how incredibly fast these guys can move! It ran into the living room and after much chasing around it ran behind a picture on the wall. The wife opened the front door and I hurriedly chucked the picture out the door before the spider had a chance to run again. I like animals but this girl was just too fast and scary to fool with. The last I saw her she was scuttling across the yard. Later I looked her up. She is a brown huntsman spider, Heteropoda jugulans. It is a tropical spider that is only mildly venomous. I am pretty sure it was a "she" because of the large size. Interesting creature!