Thank you! Yay-- not that I'm happy about aphids, but I'll take them over spider mites!

Not dangerous. Just annoying when you run into the web and then wonder if the spider is in your hair ....

Thank you! After doing a google on "Fishing Spiders" and "Dolomedes" I am certain that is what I saw today. I appreciate your feedback.

Had to copy/paste this from over on the birder's forum. Hey, you found me! FYI, one of the posters on that forum stated that it looked like a recluse, and that is the post I am referring to in my response. I'm afraid my reputation as a spider authority must have been slightly inflated somewhere along the line...I can only echo what many have already said and say it looks like one of the trapdoors to me as well. With all due respect, Rachel, I'm sorry to have to disagree with you an the recluse tag. While I can't say what it IS, I am VERY familiar with my old friend the brown recluse and have to work every day in close proximity with them and this is happily not Dakster's creature. The whole body configuration, the leg structure, overall stocky dimensions are completely dissimilar. I also repeat what others have mentioned, that if it were a photo of an undead spider things might be easier to see. "undead spider"...there's a special phrase sure to lodge in the minds of any arachnophobes reading. You mentioned phoebe vs. pewee. Now that would be wonderful, if spiders made noise. Sometimes that's the only way I can reliably tell what bird I'm seeing up in the canopy! I will be checking back periodically to see what you've come up with on this one!!