Eight-legged and scary

In an attempt to find an easy way to clean a few plastic garden chairs, I dumped six of them into our swimming pool. I returned an hour or so later and fished them out of the pool, only to find this little monster stuck in its own web at the bottom of one of the chairs.

This Button Spider (known as the Widow Spider in other parts of the world) appeared to have drowned in the swimming pool. After shooting copious photos, however, I noticed a twitch from one of its eight legs followed by a slow rising and lowering of the abdomen.

I learned two things from this exercise:

1. Never try to drown a spider
2. Garden chairs don't miraculously get clean in the pool