This is definitely spider time in California, mostly long leggity high corner dwellers, but also tarantulas, nearly as big wolf spiders, and always a black widow or two--they all find their way into my old shack of a house, about as tight as a seive. the black widows give a nasty bite, but not a bad, I think, as what in Arkansas was called the violin, or fiddleback spider, an innocuous looking house type spider that was everywhere and with a bite much like the above mentioned hobo spider (which I've never heard of). My stepdaughter has a place on Salt Spring Island, across from Vancouver--she claims there are no poisonous snakes or spiders on the island...sounds like paradise to me, given my spider and rattlesnake population!