Always check your boots before putting them on

I typically leave my muck boots and/or nasty shoes by the carport door when I take them off. And I always, ALWAYS shake them out and then look carefully in them before putting them on.

Why? So glad you asked...

The mother of all wolf spiders. And I mean that literally. See how her abdomen looks sort of fuzzy? Those are baby spiderlings. All 8 billion of them. EEEEK!

If you can't see the babies very well in the picture I took, here's a better one from another website.

What you can't see in this picture is how BIG mama spider is. Not quite the size of my palm, but getting close (and no, I was not going to put my hand near her for comparison, Thank You Very Much). DANG but we grow them big here in Texas!