SNAKES!!
No snakes on my walk today, thank heavens! It took a week for me to walk the same route that I walked last week when I had my snake experience.
I was walking along the canal bank. I was minding my own business. I saw what I thought was a twig. The wind was gently blowing. I thought the wind was blowing the twig out in front of me. I came upon the "twig" and it wasn't....a....twig. I gasped just a bit as the thing wriggled across the road. I am not a fan of snakes. I saw that it was a harmless snake as I looked at its little head and greenish, slimy body. I proceeded with caution trying to keep my quick pace.
I continued and reached the point where I always turn around to return home. I turned around and journeyed back to where I had come from. Back to the spot where I met a moving twig. I think my heart was only beating a little bit faster as I approached the spot. The "twig" was gone. I scanned the area for more twigs.
The problem with the canal bank is that it has lots of ruts and the easiest place to walk is the part of the road where tire marks have somewhat flattened the road. In between the tire marks are weeds, so I had to choose to walk on one side or the other since I couldn't walk in the middle of the road where I thought I might be safer from harmless snakes. I had pretty much convinced myself that I was in the clear and didn't see any more twigs in my path.
THEN...I came upon a very well disguised snake. This one was striped in different shades of brown and blended in with the dirt on the road. It was on the side of the road. Yes, the side that I thought might be safer since it was further away from the canal. I didn't realize what it was until I was nearly upon it and then I just looked at its little head and caught my breath again. I laughed. Seriously, two snakes!
I was just a little jumpy the rest of the way home. I convinced myself that it was absurd for me to be skittish, but there was a part of me, the deep down no-like-a-da-snakes part of me, that still felt a little bit of pressure to keep my eyes out for more "twigs".
No snakes today and it was actually a bit disappointing. I always have my phone with me since my daughter had an allergic reaction from something biting her one time when she was out running. I realized I could have taken a picture of the snakes last time, and was ready for a feature spot in National Geographic today, but alas, twas not to be.
Carry on.
Katy
I was walking along the canal bank. I was minding my own business. I saw what I thought was a twig. The wind was gently blowing. I thought the wind was blowing the twig out in front of me. I came upon the "twig" and it wasn't....a....twig. I gasped just a bit as the thing wriggled across the road. I am not a fan of snakes. I saw that it was a harmless snake as I looked at its little head and greenish, slimy body. I proceeded with caution trying to keep my quick pace.
I continued and reached the point where I always turn around to return home. I turned around and journeyed back to where I had come from. Back to the spot where I met a moving twig. I think my heart was only beating a little bit faster as I approached the spot. The "twig" was gone. I scanned the area for more twigs.
The problem with the canal bank is that it has lots of ruts and the easiest place to walk is the part of the road where tire marks have somewhat flattened the road. In between the tire marks are weeds, so I had to choose to walk on one side or the other since I couldn't walk in the middle of the road where I thought I might be safer from harmless snakes. I had pretty much convinced myself that I was in the clear and didn't see any more twigs in my path.
THEN...I came upon a very well disguised snake. This one was striped in different shades of brown and blended in with the dirt on the road. It was on the side of the road. Yes, the side that I thought might be safer since it was further away from the canal. I didn't realize what it was until I was nearly upon it and then I just looked at its little head and caught my breath again. I laughed. Seriously, two snakes!
I was just a little jumpy the rest of the way home. I convinced myself that it was absurd for me to be skittish, but there was a part of me, the deep down no-like-a-da-snakes part of me, that still felt a little bit of pressure to keep my eyes out for more "twigs".
No snakes today and it was actually a bit disappointing. I always have my phone with me since my daughter had an allergic reaction from something biting her one time when she was out running. I realized I could have taken a picture of the snakes last time, and was ready for a feature spot in National Geographic today, but alas, twas not to be.
Carry on.
Katy
Replies
If you think about it, fear of spiders and snakes is not a \"phobia\", it is an instinct. Humans have many inherited instincts that have helped us avoid danger for hundreds of thousands of years. Both spiders and snakes can kill us, so we should be wary of them.
I would advise learning how to identify poisonous snakes in the wild, there are many field guides that can help with that. A good public library will help there. Then you can calm your instinctual fear with learned behavior which may be able to override your fear by fine-tuning it to focus on poisonous species.
I\'m afraid of spiders, which is a good thing in Florida. We have a list of deadly spiders here which includes the black widow and brown recluse. A nurse was bitten by a brown recluse in one of the operating rooms of our largest local hospital, they are very common...though rarely seen. They like to wander around houses late at night foraging for dead insects and live ones too, so they sometimes wind up in bedding after a night of roaming.
Always be wary of poking your fingers into crevices and wood piles. I wear work gloves when I work around piled-up wood. Scorpions, spiders, and snakes are all found in piled-up wood.
Also, snakes are not the least bit slimy. Their skin is dry and cool to the touch. Most are so docile, you can pick them up gently and they will neither bite nor squirm in your hand. When they extend their tongues, they are checking you out. They rely on scent glands on their tongues to help them identify other animals. Water snakes should not be picked up, they usually bite to defend themselves.