SCORPIONS AND SNAKES

i was reading the latest entry of paula's over at "Pauline's Country Tales And Other Thangs" journal and it reminded me of something that happened to me awhile back. 

when i was married to my first husband, allen, we lived in a 70' X 10' mobile home in a wooded mobile home park.  the back of our home stuck back into the woods, so we got a lot of critters in and around our home.

usually i would let my husband go to bed first, and then i would follow.  as i was getting into bed one night, i spent a couple of minutes straightening the cover, smoothing my gown, etc.  as i smoothed my gown on my right side, my ring finger on my right hand made contact with something that stung the crud out of me.  when i jumped from the bed and turned on the light, and after screaming for allen to awaken and help me, i noticed something dark crawling across the bed.  i grabbed my glasses, and then i noticed it was a scorpion. 

now, all i had ever heard of scorpions all my life was that they were poisonous and you could die from their sting.  so.......i had my husband grab a rubber band and put it tightly around my ring finger to keep the poison from going further up my arm.  then allen grabbed a jar, scooped the scorpion up into it, lidded it tightly, and off to the emergency room we went. 

by the time we got to the hospital er, my finger was purple.........from the stupid rubber band.  when i checked into the er, all the nurses were huddled back into a corner, laughing.........AT ME!!  we handed them the scorpion and i was taken back to the room, the nurse removed the rubber band and the doctor came in.  he said i did more damage to myself by putting the rubber band on than the scorpion did.  georgia scorpions are not poisonous...........they don't cause any ill effects unless you are allergic to them, sorta like a bee sting.  but that i could have lost my finger due to lack of circulation from the rubberband.  boy did we feel stupid.........live and learn, i guess.

after i ditched the husband, allen, i was still living in the same mobile home.  i went out onto my front porch one day and since it was about 2.5 feet off the ground, i looked down to see a black snake slithering toward the woods, but right beneath the steps.  this is my first encounter with a snake that wasn't behind glass, so...........what do i do??  i run in the house........to get.........a..........FLY SWATTER...........yes i said a fly swatter.  first of all, just coming into the house should have sufficed..............no law on any book said that i had to go back outside till another day.  but no, i had to "kill" the snake with my fly swatter.  by the time i got back out to the porch, the snake was almost into the woods and i realized how stupid i must look, lol.  i know i sure felt stupid. 

of course i don't really like scorpions, snakes, spiders, etc., but have learned to not be so skiddish in their company.  that, in and of itself, almost caused me some problems.  when i moved into my first brick home, there was a huge mound on the side of the house where there had been a sinkhole from landfill, and the previous owners had filled it back in with dirt.  the home builders had pushed all the tree stumps and debris over to that side and covered it with dirt, which, after the termites and buggies got hold of the wood and debris and started eating it, a sinkhole developed.  well, filling it back in with dirt didn't stop the critters.  i was out cutting my lawn with a push mower one day, and i noticed some large holes.  of course, i went closer to investigate and put my foot down one inch from a snake.  i guess i jarred the earth a little, so it moved ever so slightly, and that is when i noticed it.  it was huge.........and after i came inside (and changed underwear, lol) i went to the computer and looked up snakes, and found out it was a highly poisonous species.......i don't remember which one now, but was well too aware of the species at that time. 

i have decided that i will limit my nature adventures to watching the little spiders in my windows, and squashing the occasional palmetto bug that flies in through the back door from the trees.  oh, and watching chip and dale play in the rain gutters under my bedroom window.............