Mark Anderson wrote in
.net:

I've always liked spiders in my garden and in general, around here in
Chicago, we don't have any of the poisonous types although that's not
quite 100% true. This year there's this spider that seems very
aggressive. It spins its web fast and they're big and they span
aisles were I have to walk! A couple of days ago I step out the
door to water and run right into its massive web which covered me and
got in my mouth. I look down and the damn spider was coming at me
like I was its prey. Needless to say I totally freaked out trying to
get the web off me, frantically brushing away the spider to keep it
from crawling on me.

Today/tonight I sat and watched this thing spin another web and
decided to get my camera and take a shot. After taking a few flash
shots of it she kind of stood up on her hind legs taunting me (at
least it seemed like that). I still have to go and water that part of
the garden so in an hour or so I'm going in with a water canon to
disperse the situation.

Anyway, here's a pic of the spider.

http://brandylion.com/images/spider.jpg


It's pretty hard to tell anything from the photo, and I'm no expert.
However, I did want to say that there are plenty of websites where you
can look at photos, and compare what you've seen in your garden. I've
found this site useful when trying to get a rough idea of the identity of
spiders in my garden - http://www.spiderzrule.com/

If it's a sizeable spider, and large, tough, web, it could be an orb
weaver of some sort. It looks like it has striped legs, and I've seen
quite a few photos on the above site of Argiopes and other orb weavers
with striped legs.

Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia