I think you are referring to a garden spider.
A spider that is brown with a large yellow belly might be a brown widow. Almost all spiders roll into a ball for protection. This spider could also be a garden orb.
A spider that has black and white stripes and can walk on water and is found in Northern Minnesota may be a dark fishing spider. This spider is large, often 3 inches or more, and is often found on or near water.
trarantrala
The kind of spider that is large 3 inches black and fuzzy with white stripes and found in the Bahamas is a tarantula. These tend to hide most of the time, but they may come out when it rains or if they are disturbed.
a brown reclouse
Barn spider?
The Wikipedia has an excellent description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_spider In short, they are brown spiders with black stripes that can be anywhere from 0.04 to 1.18 inches long with two large eyes on one row and four smaller ones beneath.
The quick answer is insects, live insects, dead insects, both small and large. They feed on them all. There are very few insects that a brown recluse spider will not eat.
It is likely a brown widow spider. They're not as venomous as a black widow spider, but you should still be very careful with it.
i reckon it is a wolf sider
A wasp or hornet that is very large with a black bottom with 4 yellow stripes and a possible brown top could describe more than one type of wasp. It could be Digger wasps, or yellow jacket wasps.