TTB, this must be 'the year' for those things! I have several around my house. Some the same, and some a little different colors. Does it help that the colors make them easy to avoid?
A young friend said his class in school had one as a pet last year.
Still not sure of the name, but did see one labeled as a 'garden spider' in a magazine lately.
Supposedly harmless.....unless one considers causing heart failure "harmless"!!!!
I'm not bothered much by spiders, but some do cause nasty wounds after a bite. My brothers' kidney failure was attributed to a brown recluse bite a few years ago. He's doing fine now.