Garden Heebie-Jeebies
* Posted by Veronicastrum z5 IL (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 10:20
Okay all of you dedicated gardens, what things - plant, animal, other - give you the creeps in your garden?
In another thread I posted about Rudbeckia hirta. I am on a mission to eradicate it from my garden, but suddenly have developed an aversion to the hairy stems. Creeps me out to grab 'em and yank.
What does it to you?
* Posted by: Mad_Gallica Z5 NY (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 10:38
Large plants of purslane. Those fat, succulent stems that look like worms. Real worms don't bother me at all, but those fat red, stems. Ick. I know exactly what you mean.
* Posted by: LeeAnna z8 WA (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 11:15
Grabbing one of my one-gallon pots and feeling the slimy, boogery body of a big, fat slug with my bare hand. E Icky.
Spiders sometimes do it, too. Like when I'm standing in the middle of a bed weeding and I look down to see three daddy-long-legs climbing up my legs. Or the time I uncovered a big beetle the size of a quarter, picked it up to move out of harm's way, and eight legs unfurled. That was no beetle. Shudder.
* Posted by: Frizzle z6 PA (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 11:36
walking in sandles in the damp grass and scooping up a slug with the toe of the sandle but not realizing it until you have walked a bit more and smooshed it between your toes
* Posted by: Tiffy_z6aCan 6a (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 11:46
I have no aversion to picking up slugs with my bare hands. They make me sooooo MAD!!! But right now, I'm building another rock wall, and sometimes I pick-up a piece which has a slug underneath and in the process of lifting the rock, place my hand/fingers on the unseen slug and 'squish!' YUCK! As you can tell, I don't use gloves...
* Posted by: Artchik z5 IL (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 12:06
I am phobic about mice. Phobic to the point where any small mammal darting across my peripheral vision freaks me out. I actually screamed when I accidentally uncovered a rabbit nest in my garden bed a few weeks ago and a baby rabbit jumped out. Chipmunks scuttling behind shrubs make my heart race. My husband thinks I need therapy!
* Posted by: jboling Chicago area (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 12:07
Moving a large rock or other object that's been sitting in the same place for quite a while and seeing all the squirmy life underneath slithering away for cover. Doesn't happen often in my garden because I don't have too many stationary objects, so it must be a nightmarish memory from my childhood exploring days.
* Posted by: saucydog z5MA (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 12:10
I try not to look....but something sort of slithers through one of the beds I've been trying to weed.
I also don't like spiders, but I have those big "wood spiders" that look like tarantulas to me. E day I was potting things up for a swap, and it crawled out of the pot I grabbed. I threw the pot and ran in the house. When I came to my senses, I figured the spider had been just as horrified and moved on. I finished potting up.
I don't mind "things" being there, I just don't want to cross their path (and I'm sure they feel the same about the 50 ft. woman crossing theirs!).
* Posted by: Leslies z5 NY (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 12:23
There's a weed that resembles sweet woodruff with some kind of hairs on the leaves and stems that grab at your hands when your hands try to grab at the plant. Ick.
Once I found a REALLY ENORMOUS beetle with ENORMOUS pincer jaw things that looked like it had wandered out of the Amazon jungle. It freaked me out!
Poison ivy. I know it's just a plant and I've even survived the rash without dying, but when I see it in the garden, I give it about a 10-foot berth.
* Posted by: Chris_ont 4-5 Ont (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 12:26
I have a morbid fear of stinging insects (stumbled into a wasp nest as a wee lass). The very sight of a wasp in the yard has me sleepless, wondering if a wasp nest is being built near the house. I'm sloooooowly getting used to the bumblebees that are making sure I've got raspberries this summer.
Also, there is some humungous fungus (hey that rhymes) living under my cedar hedge. Every spring it sends up a football-size clump of mushrooms that look like a very large dog yacked up his kibbles.
Fortunately, that thing is going in a few days, leaving behind a pile of brown rot that looks like some alien has escaped from there. Yuck.
* Posted by: girlgroupgirl 7b (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 12:48
Both the saddleback catapillar (ohh, they got me badly a lot last year), BIG huge fat juicy garden spiders (they just look so ferocious even though they aren't), and brown recluse spiders...these ARE ferocious!! Fire ants (they bite my kitties feet) - I hate these biting flies we have had and mosquitoes too (because they carry virus and gave me kitty heartworm (this is before she came to live with me). Now mosquitoes give me the heebie jeebies because of all the gunk they can carry. Rats of the 21st century!
I am now over my disgust of black widows, and other various spiders, many beetles, roaches of all kinds (they are just yucky when IN the house)...our soil is full of creepy crawlies.
* Posted by: kathieZ4MN (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 12:54
We have a bad case of army worms here this spring. The trees around us are about all denuded. There are massive clumps of these worms on the tree trunks as they begin to slow down. I first knew they were here when I could hear their droppings fall like rain out of the trees. The only advantage is they are perhaps adding some fertilizer to the ground. The trees will re-leaf (relief!). I just had one crawling on my back as i sit here. You either freak out or do as I have done...learn to live with them.
* Posted by: ccsuzy z6 IN (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 13:05
Huge masses of Japanese Beetles. I can stand picking them off the roses and other plants, but last year I was in my parent's back yard and heard this low rasping sound - I soon realized it was the hoards of Japanese Beetles that were infesting their Chinese elm tree and eating it to shreds. If you shook a branch literally hundreds flew out, and you could see small black droppings all over the ground and garden bench. Eee
* Posted by: LisaZone6_MA z6 MA (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 13:13
I am terrified of spiders. I don't bother them in the garden, but I give them a wide berth! Earwigs totally freak me out. I don't know what it is about them, but I hate those things! Mosquitoes just p*ss me off!!! Thank goodness I don't have to deal with ticks!!! THAT would freak me out!!
* Posted by: mscarlet z5 MA (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 13:22
I have a lot of snakes on my property and NOTHING scares me or grosses me out more then seeing one! I had bought a lot of terracotta pots this year and had a couple of the big ones upside down in my mulched rose bed. The other day I grabbed one to plant it and a milk snake was under it and I dropped the pot and ran like a maniac away. I had to have a friend that was over come over and take it across the street and get rid of it. It was just a baby maybe 8 inches long but I don't CARE about how long it is. The fact that it is a snake and tried "biting" was enough to give me nightmares. NOTHING in life other then flowers should be purple and white YUCK! CREEPY.
I can deal with the spiders that are always in the mulch. What I can not deal with are the HUGE mommas that form webs under the eaves of my house. Last year I hadn't even noticed the darn things and my son was spraying them down. I could not believe that a spider could get some big and we had several of them. The other day I noticed the webs and took out the hose and was spraying them down and out came these creatures that could curl your hair to look at. It grossed me and scared me but I was determined to get to them before they turned big enough to carry me away!
* Posted by: laura37 z5 indy (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 13:23
I have a pretty serious phobia of most all insects....the larger they are the more petrified I am. Beetles, centipedes, cicadas, and spiders are the worst. The neighbors probably get quite a laugh watching me garden - I scream and flail around wildly like a madwoman if anything sneaks up on me!!!
How ironic that my biggest phobia comes right along with my biggest passion in life.
* Posted by: another_hosta_please 6 Coastal MA (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 13:40
SLUGS! I am okay picking them off by hand and squishing them under my shoes (I actually enjoy squashing them dead) because I think of all the holes on my hostas I avoided. The thing that creeps me out is sort of what Nicole mentioned above. I think that I squished them all only to accidentally find one with bare skin on some part of your body. EWWWWWWW!!!!!
* Posted by: ChrisMD 7 (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 14:33
Tent caterpillars - cute individually but disgusting when you have to remove a web full of hundreds of writhing caterpillars mixed with caterpillar poo. Did you know that when they're small and still edible, they spin web walkways up the branches and then walk UNDER the sticky web so the birds can't grab them? Take a look next time you have one in your yard. Really sneaky. I was destroying a web and the wren came right away and was squeezing the tent caterpillars like tubes of toothpaste and eating the guts.
* Posted by: Veronicastrum z5 IL (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 14:52
(so why did I decide to check on this thread while eating lunch?)
* Posted by: Raining_In_OR Zone 8 OR (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 15:06
I'm with you Veronica, reading this thread is giving me the creeps...e I've been fortunate enough to never squish a slug. I've only seen daddy long leg spiders in the garden and they don't scare me. And I've never come across any beetles or caterpillars. But it's the earwigs that completely freak me out. I can't stand them with their little pinchers. Just thinking about them gives me the jitters.
* Posted by: Ginny12 z5 MA (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 15:28
Two years ago, I cut some bittersweet along the road to decorate the house for fall. A few hours later I saw the biggest insect I have ever seen outside a National Geographic special--and it was climbing up my drapes. Scream!! I had to get up close to see it and, worse news, it looked like the Asian longhorn beetles that are starting to kill so many of our trees in some cities. I called a UMass entomologist and he explained that there are many species of longhorn beetles. A revolting revelation. Then I had to get the Dirt Devil out to vacuum him up (insect, not entomologist). Accidentally knocked it to unseen place. Sheer terror now. Finally located him, vacuumed him up successfully and tossed the vacuum, insect inside, out the door. I'm shuddering all over just reliving this.
* Posted by: babsclare z5OH (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 15:57
I actually am able to respect/deal with most bugs or what have you, BUT the one thing that definitely gives me the heebie-jeebies enough to eek! is walking into or through a spiderweb - those ones you never see as you walk through wooded areas and they end up on your mouth or eye. And even worse is if the spider is still there and it ends up dangling from my hair,etc. Oh man I get the jeebies just imagining
* Posted by: LisaZone6_MA z6 MA (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 16:22
babsclare - AAAAAUUUGGGHHH!!! That happened to me once!!! OMG I walked face first right into one of those huge black and yellow orb weaver webs. Man can spiders move fast when they want to!!!! If anyone saw me thrashing around and waving my arms like an idiot they would have thought I was being attacked by an invisible mugger or something!! It must have been 25 years ago I did that and your post brought it right back lol!!!
* Posted by: designingwoman z5 IL (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 16:28
I freak out whenever I kill a bug that makes a crunching sound before it makes a smushing sound. And those nasty white grubs that live right under the sod make me gag.
But creepiest of all, I think, is reaching down to rub my big dog's hairy belly and coming away with a slimy slug that she picked up in the garden. yuck.
* Posted by: Chelone z6 so. Maine (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 16:47
I am just cracking up, kids!
I had horses years ago and the great big "Charlotte" type spiders used to creep me out pretty well, but they were very effective flycatchers so I "got over it".
I'm OK with slugs, pick 'em up and whip 'em into the bright sun (remember that?) in the middle of our gravelly driveway.
Sometimes I get weirded out by great big worms crawling over my hand while I work in the soil. But I end up laughing at how silly I must look when I recoil so quickly.
Beetles don't bother me at all, any size is OK with me.
Snakes are no problem, either. I "got over" that one, too, because one of the cats brings them home to me, leaving them on the deck (9-10' off the ground, cats have a ramp to get up there). I have to carry them downstairs (through the house, mind you) and release them (over 24" long I sort of herd them into a paper bag, though). I jump when they startle me, but then I'm OK with them. Nothing poisonous around here.
Japanese beetle larvae are pretty gross (when they're big, white, and "C" shaped). I make myself squish them under my thumb. This is a good "party trick" when I'm gardening with a squeamish person ;) . I do have trouble picking up Tomato Horn Worms, too.
I get grossed out when the cats bring home a "flopper", a prey item that is too roached to live, but isn't quite dead yet. I especially loathe it when they lose interest and I have to deliver the coup de grace. And yesterday I managed to put my hand on a decayed chipmunk while cleaning/weeding behind a large hosta prior to mulching the bed. I should've known better, too, since that area is known to us the "bower of death"... all the kills end up there, it's the cats' little clubhouse. ICK-O.
* Posted by: Jannie z7 LI NY (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 16:50
Anything with less than two legs or more than four legs scares me!!!
* Posted by: debgrow Z5 Chicago (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 16:51
Yesterday my daughter (15 years old) came to me and said "Mom can you tell me what this is"? She was pointing to the back of her head, where she had pulled the hair away exposing her scalp. It looked kind of like a lentil, or a seed of some sort, and it was stuck so tightly to her scalp that I couldn't pull it off - I thought it was a big wart or something!
It was kind of dark in the room where I was, so I brought her into the kitchen where the light was better. My husband, who happened to be in the kitchen, looked at it and without saying a word, grabbed a paper towel, yanked on it, and a bug fell into the sink, wiggling it's legs, and leaving something that looked like a mosquito bite on her head!
She was very very "creeped out" (and as a 15-year-old female, it doesn't take much, but I was pretty creeped out, too!). She screamed, shivered, and then ran upstairs and took a shower and washed her hair about 11 times! After she was done, she picked up everything off the floor in her room - first time she's done that without a big fight since she was 11 - and washed all of her bedding.
I called the doctor who said it was probably a tick and we should bring her in to make sure we got all of it out (and didn't leave a head or a jaw still in her scalp - I didn't tell her that part)! And, I was a little worried about Lyme Disease (I didn't tell her that part either).
Turned out to be a "harmless" tick - no such thing when it's attached to your baby's head! The good news is that it was not the kind that causes Lyme disease. The doctor said it probably fell out of a tree or something.
I still get the creeps just thinking about it - and Ashley didn't sleep much last night! I think I'm going to wear a hat when I garden from now on - there are lots of trees around my yard - who knows what could be falling out of them?
* Posted by: Betula 7MD (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 16:52
I had to giggle reading this thread. Here's my list
Unwittingly picking up slimy slug - disgusting
Tent caterpilars crawling everywhere- hateful
Poking at a tent and having them rain down on your face - loathsome
Finding mass of yellow goop on bag of mulch - nauseating
Clearing hair out of face and finding spider parked on your glasses - almost having coronary
* Posted by: Artchik z5 IL (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 16:52
ooooooooooh Chelone, the "flopper" imagery gave me shudders!
I forgot about our birdbath that the resident hawk uses to store his half-eaten mammal...he leaves it there to "save it for later". Once I saw something red in the birdbath and was almost blinded in horror by what I found. I won't elaborate, in case Veronicastrum is still eating while reading this.
* Posted by: CindyBelleZ6NJ z6NJ (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 17:27
Rats. They are NOT in my garden, but when I lived in San Franciso, in Pacific Heights no less, a neighbor redid their roof. Apparently in all cities there are roof rats. It crawled down the fireplace flue and ran thru my apt. I was a MESS. I did, however, finally get the damper the landlord had promised forever. Rats just creep me out no end.
* Posted by: saucydog z5MA (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 18:03
debgrow, was that your first experience with a tick? I hate to tell you this, but they perch on anything waiting to hitch a ride on a warm body.
They're not so bad if you familiarize yourself with them and what to do. If you are ever unsure of the type of tick that carries Lyme Disease, save the tick in an airtight jar for later observation by a doctor. They can test the tick for Lyme.
I grew up with ticks, no big deal to me....but leeches, now that's another thing! Never sit on a spillway with shorts on while you fish. The backs of my thighs were covered with little blood suckers. Gross.
Saucy (who hates floppers, too)
* Posted by: Leslies z5 NY (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 18:15
debgrow - Lyme may be new in your area, and doctors may not know about all its menacing variations, but take it from someone who has been dodging it for ten years - almost every kind of tick is known now to carry Lyme Disease. Maybe not in every part of the country, but you are not safe from Lyme just because it was a wood tick. Many types of ticks now also carry something called erlichiosis that can also make you very sick.
Used to be only tiny little deer ticks carried this stuff, but it has recently (last year) been discovered that ordinary wood and dog ticks carry it, too.
* Posted by: bytegirl z7 LI,NY (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 18:23
ticks, leeches, and daddy long-legs....I can remember my grandmother checking our heads every night before bed for ticks...tweezers and matches handy..(she would burn them...they go pop). But when you spend every waking moment in the woods as a kid, you are going to attract ticks!
Ever come up on a nest/swarm of daddy long-legs?...We once had about 100 in a corner of the porch....crawling all over each other...(you probably heard me scream...just didn't realize what it was at the time!)
Course my Grandmother's favorite heebie-jeebie story involves my cousin and I forgetting about the 2 Praying Mantis Egg Sacs in her guest bedroom one summer! I just wish I could have been there when she opened the door to find approximately 300 or so baby praying mantis on EVERYTHING!! (You probably heard that scream also...circa July 1970)..She never let us forget that one..:-)
* Posted by: valeriegail Z5 N.S. (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 19:07
I probably have the whitest legs in gardening. I hate the feel of plants brushing up against my legs and grass, well it may as well be bugs cause I can't handle the feel of it. I never wear shorts in the garden and that is usually what I end up doing when I'm outside. Queer little quirk I have no idea where it came from. I love to feel grass and plants with my hands.
* Posted by: Posy_Pet z6Mo. (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 19:10
What a FUN thread!I have to share too-centipedes and millipedes, poison ivy, leeches yes and we have lots of ticks and I am allergic to their bite but if I put some bleach on the place where they bit me, it doesn't get infected. Wasps too because I swell up from their stings.
* Posted by: Betula 7MD (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 19:29
I forgot to mention cutworms. Filthy creatures. Just the thought makes me want to hurl
* Posted by: Andrea_in_KS z5 KS (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 19:29
Spiders (although more inside than out -- since brown recluses aren't generally in my garden but are sometimes in my closet or bedroom). Ditto the walking into the web and wondering where the inhabitant now is.
Ditto the slugs, especially to step on one.
No snakes around here but they'd do it to me, too, if there were any.
Don't enjoy getting up close and personal with any type of creeper or crawler, although I let most of them live if they are good ones and step on them if they are bad ones. With shoes on.
What creeps my S.O. out is any plant with foliage that's a color other than green. He calls them aliens. He especially hates caladiums, begonias with fleshy reddish foliage, wandering jew (the purple kind), and coleus. I don't know where that comes from, exactly. He must have bad childhood memories of plants with purple foliage.
* Posted by: Storygardener 5/6 central oh (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 20:24
I get the creeps when I come to the unexpected dead mouse, mole or vole that the cats leave as "gifts" for me. It grosses me out! (but, I am glad to get rid of them!
* Posted by: jkom51 Z9 CA/Sunset 17 (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 20:41
This thread deserves to be held until October 31, 2003! Definitely Halloween-ish...
Anyway, class me with the folks that don't like spiders, wasps, and roof rats. Small arachnids don't bother me, but I don't like black widows -- creepy.
Wasps are so nasty tempered compared to bees. Love the latter, stay away from the former. I put out yellow jacket traps in the spring every year, now.
Roof rats -- compared to the city brown rat, they're actually kinda cute. But they still have that long rat tail, and they get BIG. Our first look at the property we are now living in, we looked in the weed-infested backyard -- it was so overgrown you literally couldn't walk back there, nor could you see the back fence only 50' away.
A huge roof rat -- literally, this thing looked three feet long from tip to tail! -- casually strolled down a length of ivy vine like it was the coastal freeway, descending down from an old walnut tree and disappearing into the ivy.
Needless to say, the garden got cleared out by day laborers. The roof rats are still there -- you can't eliminate them entirely when your neighbor's backyard is full of ivy -- but we have successfully discouraged them from living in our shed and house, thank goodness.
* Posted by: waywyrd z8 SC (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 21:28
I can't stand those huge black and orange centipedes. I accidentally picked one up the other day and freaked out...plus those nasty white translucent grubs make my stomach turn when I dig one up. BLEAH!
This thread is hilarious by the way! :D
* Posted by: Eric_OH 6a (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 22:16
I don't mind snakes.
What gives me a bit of a turn is when I've spent a half hour some fine summer night fishing algae and leaves out of an above-ground water feature, finally sufficiently aggravating the 6-foot snake that's been lurking in there to snatch goldfish, and seeing it rear out of the water and head for parts unknown.
Big snake. Sudden appearance in the dark. Bad.
* Posted by: alyrics 5B NE OH (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 22:51
azalea galls. - this wet wet spring caused the virus to go out of control on 6 of my azaleas - they were covered with horrid pale green, and ripe white and gray giant galls growing off the leaves and buds - just disgusting looking. ditto and Japanese beetle grubs - worse than slugs, I think its the gross color
* Posted by: Taryn S Ontario Z6B (My Page) on Wed, Jun 18, 03 at 22:54
Maggots! You know, barbeque remains and dog doo go into the trash on Sunday night, then it's 30C/80F and humid all week long. Then Thursday evening before garbage pickup Friday morning you go to add another bag and it's alive with disgusting white wriggling things!!! This is when you drop all, run screaming for the house and yell at DH to get them trash can's outta here fast! Uggghhh!!!!
* Posted by: grrlsmom z5 IL (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 0:48
Remains of critters are creepy, but the worst, worst, worst thing is the remains of Lamb's Ear. It looks like a decomposed 'something' and even tho' I KNOW it's there, I still recoil when I see those old leaves. Here's my secret - I will not touch them! Oh, I know they won't hurt me, but EWWWWWW!
* Posted by: Chelone z6 so. Maine (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 5:04
Taryn, the ninja kitties routinely bring home the kills and park them in the "bower of death" (behind the big Krossa Regal next to the front door). I routinely clear out the corpses (that where I put my hand down on one the other day, very squishy). And often, by the time I get to the chore the flies have begun working on the next generation. I'm with you, scooping up the bag o' maggots that was once a vole, chipmunk, or some other relatively "cute" furry mammal is cause for a shudder.
Eric, your large water snake reminds me of the similarly large black snake that lived under the barn and used to sun him/herself on the large granite threshold. I gave it a wide berth, myself... but no rats or mice in the grain bins or the hay mow! When it appeared in late March, I knew spring wouldn't be far behind. You get used to them.
* Posted by: Andy_Japan z9 (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 7:05
What a hoot!
Yup, spider webs in your hair, slugs on the rim of pots, bugs that go crunch before they go squish, "Japanese" (lol) beetle grubs--e
Well, I'm going to see your bugs and spiders and slugs and raise you a longhorn beetle.
If you think this guy is cute, then maybe you'd "shell" out up to 400 bucks for the pleasure of raising him. City folks!!
So why is this girl smiling?
There's always origami if you can't raise one...
* Posted by: sans z5/4 MA (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 8:33
You guys have me itching all over!
Ticks are my bogie man. We bought a house with a wooded area so I could do some serious woodland gardening - after tons of ticks and poison ivy, I can't even make my self walk into the woods!
* Posted by: LisaZone6_MA z6 MA (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 9:19
Ooooh - I have the dead animal story to top all dead animal stories!! We have a three season porch and every year skunks decide to dig under the lattice and make a nice cozy burrow next to the foundation of the house. Every year we route them out and DH digs and puts in hardware cloth so they can't get back in. Last year we decked the area around the porch and DH made sure he dug down over a foot and put in the hardware cloth so the problem would be over with once and for all. Well, he either missed a spot, or a skunk was hibernating under there and we didn't know about it, so it got trapped and couldn't get out. I have to say I do feel terrible at the thought of the poor thing starving to death in there unable to get out. Anyway, we still kept smelling skunk and he kept checking the perimeter but couldn't see any holes dug. He finally got down on his hands and knees with a flashlight and checked everywhere he could see. He spotted what he thought was an old gray T-shirt on the ground, pulled up a couple floor boards on the deck, and there was a skunk corpse!! He got something to hook it out with and tons of maggots "boiled" out of the corpse. He said he almost lost his lunch right then and there! Thank god I was in work at the time! The kids still tell the story!
The only other one I have that may be better, is the guy in the townhouse across the street put in a little water feature right by his front door. The day he finished it, that night a skunk drowned in it (they're not too bright I guess - the water feature was about 8 inches deep!) He had an old 5 gallon plastic bucket, so my DH fished the corpse out for him and they put it in the bucket. Well it sat there in the mid-summer heat all week. On trash day, it was picked up and thrown in the truck - then they compacted what was in there, the bucket burst, and OMG the stench!! DH said up and down the whole street you could hear people slamming their windows shut as the odor spread!! Those trash guys must have wanted to kill that guy!! The had to go empty the truck before they could continue.
Only thing worse than a skunk is a dead, rotting skunk lol!!
* Posted by: Chris_ont 4-5 Ont (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 9:56
Well, Lisa, thank you very much for that tasty tale. I've had to set my breakfast muffin aside for later. Much.
This thread is hilarious. Betula's comment about finding "a spider parked on your glasses" had me absolutely howling with laughter. For some reason I imagine the spider as surprised-looking as the person wearing the glasses.
Hilarity aside, the absolutely ickiest garden 'find' is the one left behind by the neighbor's dog or cat. Everything else, after all, is in my garden because I caused it to be there, in some way or another.
* Posted by: EarlyBird_8 z8a/b SW Ga (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 11:20
Does a garden center count? A couple of weeks ago I was in Lowes at the fertilizer section when 2 huge rats, not mice, ran across the aisle. They freaked me out more than anything living I've seen recently. I'll never feel safe in Lowes again.
* Posted by: back40jen 5MI (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 11:31
Snakes always scare the heck out of me-in the abstract, they are fine, eat lots of rodents and bugs, but when I see one, yikes. I am hoping I'll get used to them, although I have seen far fewer of them around my house in the last couple of years. Rose chafers and tomato worms are the only bugs that really creep me out.
* Posted by: Wild4Gardens 6 PA (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 13:37
Why did I click on this during lunch? I put it to the side because I can't stop reading this thread!!
Anything my cats leave me that I discover while on my hands/knees in the garden. It's usually nice and decomposed.. the SMELL and movements of maggots is nauseating. Of course, I let my hubby clean up these gifts.
For you fellow ponders, last summer our pump clogged up. My husband crawled in & pulled it out for closer examination. Stuck in the holes were 2 dragonfly larvae .. alive and wriggling hopelessly... has anyone ever seen these things.. BY FAR the grossest most disgusting looking things EVER EVER EVER. Of course my stong and fearless husband couldn't touch them and left me to 'pulling' them out of the holes. Even with gloves on I could feel their wriggling bodies.. only 1 of them came out in one piece. EW!
Another great husband story.. because he couldn't see back there, he asked me to look at his rumpuss. He said his undies were rubbing it and it smarted to sit.. he felt a bump there for a few days & he thought it was a blemish. Upon closer examination by his loving wife, it turned out to be a big TICK.. embedded nicely, deep into his skin and engorged after enjoying its meal for the past few days. I could hardly get him to stop jumping around so I could dig it out!!!!!! Then I couldn't stop laughing at the sight of his naked hinner stuck in the air and a grown man nearly in tears screaming 'Get it out, get it out'!!!!!
Funny thing is, the cats have been around since before the old man (he's a dog person) and the poor guy doesn't even like gardening.. tolerates my obsession because he loves me! A few more of these experiences and he might be moving the family into an apartment. and one that doesn't accept pets! ha ha! Oh my, what we do for love!
* Posted by: HoovB z9 Southern CA (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 14:56
Removing dead gophers from gopher traps. Not fun.
* Posted by: Ramona_NY z5NY (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 15:11
ooo, these stories all remind me of a few:
I used to live in a tick-infested area of NJ. We used to keep a bottle on the windowsill by each door, containing a little alcohol to drown the ticks. Walk in, pick off the ticks, move on.... Well, one day my ex-husband was drinking a beer while washing the dishes at the kitchen sink, right next to the door, where the current tick-bottle just happened to be a beer bottle.... need I finish that story?
I got used to ticks.
I used to think that garter snakes bothered me, until I was in my blueberry garden one day when the grass hadn't been mowed in a while. Yikes! all of a sudden a 3' long water snake lifted it's head and snarled at me. I had a shovel in my hand and actually had to use it to defend myself. The shovel eventually became my weapon when I realized there were offspring of this snake in my pond... I had to sneak up and decapitate them with the shovel...
I got used to snakes.
And those slimy slugs... I hate them too... but I gave my kids each a salt shaker and had them do the evening chore of salting the garden slugs, and they didn't mind.
I have a few spider stories too that come to mind, but I need to get back to work...
* Posted by: Meadow_Lark 7 (NE Alabama) (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 15:23
SPIDERS! Holy Moly! We are talking "total inability to cope"...
I faint dead away!
Last summer, I was outside watering... looked down, and there on my shirt was the MOTHER OF ALL SPIDERS...
Next thing I know, I wake up... lying in a huge puddle of cold water (I had been using my thumb over the end of the hose...)
Suddenly, I realized WHY I was on the ground. I look down at my shirt in sheer terror and... NO SPIDER.
THAT is when I really LOST IT! Off comes the shirt... Off comes the pants... all the while, I'm SCREAMING my lungs out, and trying to run for the house.
Never did find out where the thing went to... but while typing this... I feel a little "woozy"...
Meadow Lark
* Posted by: Luvmybulbs Z6 IL (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 15:26
Funny, we just came across a rather funky snake Sunday. It was black and red (checkboard) looking back. I have been unable to find what kind it is on the web and SO let it get away. I would have chased it on the lawn mower.
* Posted by: Been_IL z5 (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 15:27
Spiders and other bugs don't really bug me unless they are in the house, then I get the heebie-jeebies because I have to kill them or relocate. I just found a gartner snakes hole in my garden and was excited because I thought they were good at getting rid of garden pest.
When I'm working in my garden sometimes my attention will turn to the ground that's moving and I suddenly notice I've been working alongside a billion ants- or they're working on my legs- now that gives me the heebie-jeebies and usually I find another spot in the garden to turn my attention to.
* Posted by: Wendy_the_Pooh USDA 2003 z5/6 (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 15:32
Grubs, big spiders. One REALLY big spider went skittering out from a half-barrel recently, and I just about went bongo. Swallowing gnats (bleah!). Having chunks of soil fly into my mouth. Yes, I got a wee bit too enthusiastic about weeding recently. B.T.W., don't get any ideas ;-).
* Posted by: Wild4Gardens 6 PA (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 15:33
OK, another story came to mind.. I keep my garden sneakers on the deck outside the back door.. put on my sneakers one day and feel a wiggle .. pull off my sneaker & throw it on the deck.. out falls the mother of all spiders.. large, hairy garden spider. Since that day I ALWAYS check my shoes and garden gloves before putting them on!
* Posted by: ernie50 z7bGA (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 16:07
Giant tomato horn worms-big as your thumb.I usually just put them in the bird feeder.Way too messy to kill.
* Posted by: Betula 7MD (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 16:13
I almost split my side laughing reading Lisa's story about the skunk and Wild4gardens story about the tick and her husband
* Posted by: Veronicastrum z5 IL (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 16:37
I hope Meadow Lark hasn't passed out at the computer!
A couple of years ago I discovered the phrase that sends a teenage son running out of the room in terror, "There's a bee in my bra!"
I had been weeding near the monarda (or should I say bee balm?) when I started to hear buzzing sounds nearby. I decided to try and get the last two weeds before clearing out of the area - oops, too ambitious. I got stung on the forearm. I let out a yelp, dropped my things and ran into the house to get ice on my arm. I sat down on the couch to catch my breath and felt a little tickling in the old cleavage area. I tried to convince myself it was a trickle of sweat, but it moved a bit too much for sweat.
I finally got up the courage to look down my shirt, and there was a big old bee crawling around! How he got there I'll never know. I bent forward and trapped him inside the bra, but of course the bra was still on me! This was the point when my son walked in - and walked out just as quickly. He sent his sister in to help. Amazingly, we got the bra off and the bee out the door without further incident.
And when I sat down and REALLY caught my breath, I discovered that the sting on my forearm was really three. Enough to make a rational person put round up on the monarda!
* Posted by: debgrow Z5 Chicago (My Page) on Thu, Jun 19, 03 at 19:06
OK, just thought of two more. I can top the spider in the shoe story - slipped on a pair one day and felt something a little wet - not only had there been a big icky spider in my shoe, but I smashed him with my bare foot! I always shake out my shoes before I put them on, to be sure!
A garden friend of mine showed me that if you're wearing gloves while you garden, and you find a grub (and I find lots of them) you can just squish it between your thumb and forefinger and keep going. I thought it sounded disgusting, but it was much better than what I used to do - toss them over my shoulder into DH's lawn, where, I fully admit, they could someday make their way back to the garden, not to mention what they'd do to the grass.
Well, I started liking the idea of squishing them - sort of vindication for what they'd do to my flowers later if I didn't get them first. I just had to show my husband what I'd learned, so I called him over and held one up and did my thing, and it squirted all over his face! Better his than mine! And we're still married! He must love me a lot!
* Posted by: SAM1979 z5MA (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 7:32
What a fun thread! Crickets oh my God crickets and grass hoppers can make me just go bezerk! My children have to remove them if they get into the house. I'll just leave, literally, until they are gone! If I move a rock and there's cricket under it that's it for the day in the garden.
I'm not to fond of spiders either but can usually handle them. I have a children?s story about them!
My oldest was about 12 at the time wanted to have slumber party, which is a misnomer they don't slumber!
So we said she could have one on our screen porch. They hung up old drapes for privacy, Christmas lights for atmosphere and settled in eating and laughing when suddenly we heard blood curdling screams! They had turned on the main light and happened to look up, in the four corners were spiders that could carry away small children!
DH comes bravely out, oh you're just being "girls" he looked up and said*&%$#@ I'm not touching them get the vacuum cleaner, so we sucked them up and then left the vacuum in the driveway all night!
I hate mice and had a confrontation with a vole recently in my yard, I was walking out past the pool and something scurried by, it was as big as my fist! I thought it was a huge mouse at the time but was later corrected that it was a vole.
Anyway I threw water at it figuring it would run into my neighbors yard, it just ran closer to the side of the pool looking at me. so I got a little closer and threw water again and it actually stood up on it's hind legs and bared it's teeth at me. I backed off quickly! I figure if it had the nerve to rear up at me it might just follow through on it's threat! I went inside!
I have learned to throw grubs out of my garden now without hurling! I found one day that as I was tossing them into the driveway a mocking bird was watching and helping itself to a snack every time I tossed one there. When I stopped gardening it actually sqauwked at me..like hey I'm still hungry!
* Posted by: LisaZone6_MA z6 MA (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 9:14
Sorry I ruined your muffin for you Chris!! (hee hee hee hee hee!)
Considering we live in the "city" we've had quite the animal adventures over the years that we've lived here. The two aforementioned skunk episodes. Another one years before where my DH and his macho friend were routing yet another skunk out from under the porch, his friend with BB gun in hand ready to dispatch the creature, only to have them running around screaming like women when it finally came out and went after them! The time both a skunk AND a racoon were under there and fought it out for the burrow - needless to say the racoon made a hasty retreat!! Another time a possum got on our back porch but couldn't get back out so we had to make a blockade with the furniture and lead him gradually to the door while he hissed and snarled at us the whole time. And finally, we had a rabid racoon on the front porch and had to call animal control - that was not funny in the least!
The best story I have by far is the time a bat got in the house. My DH put in the air conditioners, but neglected to tuck that foam stuff in-between the top and bottom windows to plug the gap on one window. The kids were small and in bed for the night and the two of us were in the living room watching tv. I kept seeing something out of the corner of my eye, but thought it was the light from the tv reflecting off the french doors leading to the dining room. Well all of a sudden something swooped into the living room and started circling the ceiling. For a second I thought Pigeon! But this thing did NOT move like a pigeon. You never saw two people hit the floor so fast in your life! We scurried across the living room and into the dining room on our butts so fast! In the couple seconds we took to recover the darn thing swooped into the dining room and disappeared. We searched each room one by one and shut the doors until we finally made it upstairs and wouldn't you know the darn thing was in my son's room flying around. We got him out of the room out of a sound sleep, the poor kid - he didn't know what was going on. We got the kids' butterfly nets and put a laundry basket over our heads and went in after it. It kept landing on the curtains and hanging there by its feet the way bats do, but it would swoop up and fly around every time we got close. And boy those things can turn on a dime! We'd scream and run for the door, collide and bounce off each other as we tried to get thru the door and slam it shut behind us, then wait a minute and try again. We were laughing so hard we could hardly compose ourselves. Well after about 20 minutes or so of this we decided we were hopeless and had to call the police! I don't know what I was thinking of - I guess that like animal control, they'd come and catch it and let it go outside or something. Well the cop shows up and we bring him up to the room and there the bugger is crawling up one of the bed posts. Well he takes out his telescoping night stick and bops the thing off the head. It falls to the floor flopping around - I was horrified!!! I got him a bag and he took it away with him. Then I was so racked with guilt about the poor thing! I suppose all we had to do was open the stupid window and it would have left on its own, but we had worked ourselves into such hysteria over the stupid thing, we didn't think! I should add that we had enjoyed a couple of beers once the kids went to bed and that added to our lack of good sense!!
* Posted by: canoekid 4qc (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 9:31
gettin the willies reading all this stuff...
I remember as a kid pickin wild raspberries alongside my mum's garden, when my cupped hand was overflowing with berries I'd pop them in my mouth, yum, until of course a grasshopper was included into the melange, squishy and crunchy at the same time YUK!
Insects usually don't bother me, except when they are on ME (or in my mouth!!!), or just plain squishy ugly, cicada larvae for instance. Last summer while weeding in the late evening, my hair in a ponytail, loose hair strands everwhere tickling my face, thinking the tickle behind my ear was my hair so I ignored it, until it didn't feel like a tickle anymore... more like a squirming earwig just behind the little hollow behind my ear. Remember Elaine on Seinfeld doing that funny awkward dance? lookin like a complete idiot.
Well, throw in a screamin banshee doing the Elaine dance, that was me!!
* Posted by: vivian_MA z6 MA (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 11:56
Between reading all these creepy crawly tales of terror in the garden and the "Mink really a fisher cat" thread in the New England forum...I don't think I'll be able to go out in my garden again with full battle gear and a flame thrower. Yikes!!!
* Posted by: MeMyselfAndI 5/6 central OH (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 13:29
So many of these stories had me really cracking up!!! Bees in the bra! Ticks on the posterior! And so many others!! Hilarious!
Had to rip the window boxes off of my house when I discovered a HUGE spider living between them and the wall. So big you wouldn't consider hitting it with a shoe or magazine - that would only make it mad! Most spiders are welcome to do their thing OUTSIDE, but not MASSIVE hairy ones that stare back at you when you look at them. So big you can hear them when they move.
Not all bees freak me out because most of them could care less about you, but those yellow jackets really want to take you on! I start running, screaming like Jack the Ripper is grabbing me, and flailing my arms! If it follows me, I start doing football moves, darting from side to side, trying to get away from it. BTW, I've never been stung and have been using this method since age 2 they tell me.
Besides spiders, yellow jackets, mice, and rats, and poisonous snakes, I can't think of anything else (around here) that scares me just by being in close proximity to it.
Besides regular ol' worms, butterflies, fireflies, and daddy longlegs, and ladybugs, anything that is actually on me or my clothing freaks me out. And the imported ladybugs that BITE are ruining that whole ok-for-ladybugs-to-touch-me thing!
* Posted by: twizzler z6 CT (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 13:49
SLUGS, SLUGS, SLUGS!!
* Posted by: david_5311 Z 5b/6a SE Mich (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 14:01
This IS a riot. ROOF RATS??? Maggots? In gardens?? Maybe I am glad I live in Michigan. I am not sure there is anything that really gives me the creeps, except a mouse maybe. Don't like the surprise. But with 3' roof rats out there, I'll take my little deer mice.
Anybody else out there HAND PICK slugs off of plants? And squish them on the sidewalk? I do. Kind of gives me the creeps, but then it's me versus them, so I feel a little 'victorious'. Same deal with Japanese beetles. I hand pick them on cool summer mornings and squish them on my sidewalk. Maybe I am giving all of you the creeps....
Wasps/yellow jackets probably come the closest to giving me the creeps. We have a wood frame house not to mention the garden filled with flowering plants, and these stingers are everywhere. They love to make nests UNDER the chairs and tables on our deck. I can't tell you the number of times I have gone to pick up a table or chair and gotten stung, at least 6 times last summer. I was deadheading rhododendrons 2 days ago and got stung by a bee lurking in a half dead flower. Actually my worst experience was digging in my garden and hitting a nest of some type of ground yellow jacket- they were all over me instantly and I got 8 stings.
Nothing to fool around with -- I had a friend in college who was killed by a bee sting, while brushing his teeth at a summer camp where he was working. I probably should go get desensitized, though I have never had a reaction. But it can still happen.
* Posted by: Tracey_NJ6 (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 14:09
Earwigs! I can tolerate just about any bug except these guys. Their numbers have grown over the last 3 years, and last year was the worst! My DH built a big outdoor toybox, and sure enough, one day I opened it, and there was an earwig rally being held. At least a hundred, on the inside cover and around the cushioned molding. I slammed down the cover, ran into the house, cursed out DH, and started crying. I was never so grossed out in my life. So far, so good, this year, until last night. Heavy rain at midnight, remembered an open window and my DD's motorized VW Beetle in the yard. I ran out to get it, brought it into my florida room. Opened the battery case, and there it was, my first earwig of the season. I'm soooooooooo depressed...
* Posted by: bethbriggs 7 WNC (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 14:11
I don't like the way the flowers on lamb's ears look...creepy and weird, though my husband thinks their lovely.
I also don't like bug larvae of any kind...hate when I unearth those weird wiggly white things.
I must confess that I find the compost pile generally creepy too...love what it does to my garden and soil, but don't care for all the funky smells, slimy gunk, and bugs.
* Posted by: dtpforu 7 NC (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 14:16
SLUGS! Yuk!
* Posted by: FlowrPowr 5 (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 14:41
Spiders definitely. Especially the kind that size you up, ready to pounce. The other thing is something I like to call Dog Barf mold. I don't know what it really is, but it looks like yellow, foamy dog puke. Yuk!
* Posted by: NancyD 5/6 Roch., NY (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 15:00
Spiders definitely creep me out when it seems as though they're watching you. I've stepped on bees in the past with my bare fee. Not so much the heebie-jeebies, but the yowy wowies!
* Posted by: chase 6 (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 15:28
Opening up the door of my garden shed gives me the Heebie-Jeebies! It's a hand made shed with lots of openings that allow "creatures" to get inside. Every time I open it I worry that somebody will be in there. My worry is based on experience , over the years I have had mice, chipmunks, birds and once there was a RAT!!!!!!!! Might have had something to do with the fact I used to store my birdseed there. Not anymore!
Now that I don't store any seeds in there it's usually only an issue first thing in the spring but even so, every time I open the doors I shudder.
* Posted by: Wendy_the_Pooh USDA 2003 z5/6 (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 15:55
LOL, FlowrPowr! Dog Barf mold. I've seen it, too.
* Posted by: frogribbit z5 KS-midwest (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 17:11
Good posts! The hair on the back of my neck is standing up! June bug beetles - they are related to Japanese beetles but come out at night and it doesn't matter where you are they find you! They have little clingy legs that just stick to your clothes - aargh! I also hate squash bugs and blister beetles - nasty, nasty creatures.
* Posted by: rhine59 5 WI (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 17:35
A number of years ago I came across a stinkhorn fungus growing in our wood mulch. If I remember right it was called a rubra and the thing looked like an alien. It had tentacles and black slime on the top of it and smelled horrible. The first time I saw it I jumped back about 10 feet and started looking for the mother ship as I was sure the aliens had landed and I had just discovered a pod of some sort! It truly did look like something from the old Lost In Space television show. That one gave me the heebie-jeebies for quite a while!
* Posted by: ralf58 z5 IL (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 18:53
Centipedes, milipedes, earwigs. I shudder when I see any of them.
But even "okay" insects can freak me under the right circumstances. Last year I was weeding my rose bed and this tiny clump of soil flew up and stuck to my right cheek. I was busy so I just ignored it. I mean, you get dirty gardening, right? And as dirty as my hands were, wiping off my face would not have accomplished much. It turns out that it wasn't a clump of soil. It was a mosquito that clung to my face and just feasted for about two or three minutes. Thank God it was before all the West Nile virus publicity or I'd have been hysterical. Even now, thinking about that bloodsucker hanging on my face gives me the creeps.
* Posted by: ernie50 z7bGA (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 19:23
Once when I was a teenager (many moons ago) I ran over a nest of yellow jackets with a pushmower. Land speed record to the house, being stung in the a$$ all the way. Up 2 flights of stairs slamming doors all the way. Finally reached an upstairs bathroom & 3 had made it in with me. They didn't last long. My speed that day has only been exceeded once. Saw my 1 year old son (in only a diaper) standing in a giant fire ant mound way in the back of the yard. Feet never touched the ground. He only had 3 bites.
* Posted by: guppy 5b NS CAN (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 21:44
JUNE BUGS!!! I can't go out after dark during June Bug season. Just hearing them buzzing on the window screens or pinging against the glass makes my stomach turn!!
* Posted by: saucydog z5MA (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 22:04
Oh, you guys brought to mind one of the worst things that ever happened to me as a first time gardener:
New house.
Newly planted beds.
I bought way to many bags of mulch, so I stored it in my shed.
Come next spring, I decided that I should use my mulch. I got out the bags and the shovel. I took the shovel and pulled it up in the air and plunged it into the middle of the plastic bag so that I could split it open. I split it, all right....a gazillion tiny mice scattered! I'm talking at least 50 little pink mice - they were so young that they still had that pinkish hue to them! Not one mouse suffered - it was a mouse miracle.
The kids enjoyed, I did not. The way they scattered just freaked me out - they'd been in total darkness and suddenly exposed to light - boy did they scatter!
I now get my mulch by the truckload.
* Posted by: idabean (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 22:04
I think its the element of surprise that's so terrifying. I don't like earwigs at all, but I just hate them most when you've pick a luscious ripe tomato on a late summer evening, and bring it inside(you can taste it already) and there's a hole on the other side with earwigs crawling out. Not nice.
I get terrible poison ivy. I need to go to the doc for prescriptions....I see it and am terrified. I used to be non-reactive but maybe my problem started years ago....we were in the country--at a rural firehouse, in fact, asking directions and I sneaked off into the field to pee. As I was squatting I saw in front of me the orb of a garden spider with its creator. Mind you, I used to be a naturalist, so I gazed in wonder. Then I got up and gazed down. I been squatting right in the poison ivy.
Then I had to go ask the firefighters to use the bathroom so I could scrub off my butt, (not that I told them the reason.)
* Posted by: Artchik z5 IL (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 22:14
Oh Saucy, I will have nightmares forever over that story. I could feel my heart rate zoom as I read about those hairless, skittering pink things.
* Posted by: Marilou z4 IA (My Page) on Fri, Jun 20, 03 at 22:27
In a yard where I (thankfully!) no longer live that had snakes, one day I thought the kids had gotten a ball stuck about three feet off the ground in a neighbor's bush that was near our property line. On closer inspection I found a very large clump of writhing snakes in the middle of an orgy. (All I could think was they were making MORE snakes and had to be stopped!) Not knowing what else to do--and being thoroughly grossed out--I grabbed a shovel and was whacking the neighbor's bush when--you guessed it--the neighbor appeared and caught me with shovel raised and taking aim. Of course by now I had put a damper on the snake orgy and they were almost all gone. When I tried to explain this once-in-a-lifetime bizarre snake orgy ball hanging in mid-air, the look on my neighbor's face was priceless. And of course, the snakes never did it again for her to see with her own eyes.
* Posted by: Clematisintegrifolia z6 New Jersey (My Page) on Sat, Jun 21, 03 at 2:28
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