What kind of spider is this for certain?

Question

i'm 14 and i have to stay at my grandmas house for the summer, and she lives in south-east michigan, in a neighborhood with lots of open grass and trees, flowers, & bushes. i noticed about every summer around late july-august these spiders come and every year i see at least 3 of them or more.

i will try to explain them as best i can:

- they make their webs usually in open-ish places, that usually dont get touched by humans often, like my grandmas garage window, in her house windows, in my grandmas garden in between flowers.

- they are usually bigger than a quarter..but this year i've only seen small ones, about the size of a dime to the size of a nickel.

- they have big butts like the size of a gumball, which are usually an off-white to a very light brown/ tan color. sometimes with a very faded blotches of a darker brown-ish color

- theyre legs are striped with black & off white OR reddish brown & off- white.

-they make pretty big webs

- they dont seem to get into houses or anything

-they are usually gone by the middle/end of august to the beggening of september.

- they are NOT hairy at all.

does anyone know what kind of spider this is??

people have told me what kind it sounds like..but i wont mention what kind..cause i want new answers, but the kind they say it is and the pictures they send look kind of like it...but not enough for me to know its the exact kind of spider for sure.

what kind of spider is this??? nobody seems to know!!!! not even my neighbors!

please help!!

Answer 1

Orb Web Weaver (Araneidae) Araneus

It some type of garden orb weaver. There are several species all with the leg patterns you describe and the large abdomen.

Answer 2

Learn to ID  it with the help of these sites and even if you do not find what you are looking for you will be able to ID any bug in the future -

http://bugguide.net/node/view/1954

http://www.arachnology.be/pages/Pictures...

http://www.spideridentification.org/

Answer 3

I don't know but I know how you can find out.  You are obviously very observant as you give great details about the spider's appearance and habitat; still you're the one who has seen it up close.  

Try using the search engines like Google (www.google.com). Type in something like  "garden spiders" in "South east Michigan"  and then click on the "images" tab and look till you find one that matches.  Also check into any local wildlife organizations around your area of the country.