They are really active right now at our place, too. Every year a pair of Carolina wrens make a nest in an old decorative watering can that I hung on a trellis just past our front porch. I had noticed the bird was sitting on her eggs just about 4 days ago. Well, we were relaxing after yard-work on Saturday on the porch. I noticed a lizard ran very quickly almost under my chair and up the wall and even commented, "there must be a snake around somewhere", happened to look and there was a black snake's head sticking out of the watering can. I exclaimed "there's a snake in the bird's nest", my husband went over and dumped it out, couldn't believe the size of this thing that was all wadded up inside this really small space. Anyway, no sign of the brooding bird since so I'm afraid the whole family has been wiped out.

In my opinion best advice is to seek treatment for phobia. I had a severe phobia of dogs that I had to get treated and it is very worth it and I think a lot of people that have more "socially acceptable phobias" (e.g. spiders or snakes rather than beloved dogs, people thought I was evil for being scared of dogs! even though I have been up to cottonmouths before and been fine, didn't bother me,... but as a kid I got CHASED DOWN by dogs and attacked so...). We share this world with a lot of creatures, it's something to get used to. Desensitization&exposure therapy is best to build yourself up first before you ever see one. That being said, eliminating brush piles in areas you frequent/maintain a lot, keeping it open will keep snakes out of those areas and make them favor more wild spots. Keeping things open tends to be best for the more cultivated areas of the garden anyway, to maintain airflow. ALSO snakes are often not very active in the day except after rains. They don't like being out in the open especially in the day because one of their main predators, hawks, can see them. I rarely see snakes around my house and I have a bunch of brush lol I've only seen them out at night (there's the cutest baby kingsnake but i digress). avoid times when snakes are most active and you'll be a lot less likely to see them. anyway best of luck treating your phobia, it's a hard road but very worth it to be free of it

lol ummm i already have that ladder thingie...it's in the garage waiting for the new kitchen so ds can bother dh while cooking heh heh maybe i should get it out for me! surgery went well but there are some follow up issues with bone density i'm told. i have to start sucking down calcium like a ummm calcium sucker (what eats calcium?) they also had trouble with the iv's so now both hands look as if i've been fighting off polar bears (whicj may be my new story LOL) i must say....being helpless sucks! and this kinda hurts more than it should! ok i must lay back down before nurse nasty (dh) finds me up! oh and we have checked celiac :) our sobs nurse has it so we had a fortunate leg up on that which most don't have. and we do go gluten free once every six months to see if ut helps since celiac seems to be a bit if a waxing waning (spell?) issue and our ped wants to be sure!

What an interesting thread, from long ago with lots of old names. I wonder who's still around? (Not me anymore!). I've wondered about this, accepted that cotton just isn't cotton anymore. I've presumed it's the same way that "100% cotton blue jeans" somehow have stretchy waistbands. Clearly the modern 100% isn't quite what I think of when I think of "100%". So - I've just presumed that all these cottons are processed in some way that affects its absorption and content, even, they just don't have to declare it. But that's just been my speculation, I don't know. Microfiber is not the same. It doesn't absorb the way an old cotton towel does. It could also be the dyes used commercially. If I were to really investigate this, I'd try some "organic" cotton and "organic dyes", to see if this helps. Note that you can buy "shop towels" at Home Despot that are white terry cloth, loose weave, not in any way pretty, but thoroughly absorbant as of days of yore. All these things do matter and there is a big difference between towels I've bought in bundles from Costco (bad absorbers) from some other less boingy towels from who-knows where. So ... I think all these variables matter perhaps?