This spider scared the bejeezus out of me when I went to pick up a package off the porch and it scurried across the brick wall, startled out of hiding behind that box. It was the fattest, meatiest spider I've ever seen! The legs, abdomen, everything were very plump, and its sheer spidery mass scared me. Naturally it ran for the space under the front door as if trying to get in the house. Yikes!

Is this a wolf spider? The spiders I knew in my youth as "wolf spiders" were definitely smaller and spindlier than this monster. The body from nose to butt was right around 3/4", while the legspan is over 1/5".