I remember a couple of years ago, my husband had some old lumber laying out in the yard. He couldn't seem to find the time to move it elsewhere. I began cleaning the yard late in the spring and decided to go ahead and move the lumber myself. I had moved several pieces when I was getting down to some of the rotten pieces. I decided to throw the rotten pieces in the burn pile when I felt something crawling up my arm. I dropped the near rotten boards and started beating myself, and doing some kind of strange native dance all the while screaming as if I was being murdered. A wave of nausea came over me, and I suddenly began to vomit. This all happened in a matter of a few seconds, maybe a minute or two at the most. My husband ran up to me asking "spider or snake?" Once I finished heaving, I then started to cry with fear and anger. Anger, because I had been cleaning up his mess he left all winter, crying because of my fear of spiders. What was crawling on my arm was a Black Widow the size of my thumb. Her fat ebony abdomen seemed to be larger than my thumb nail, and her scarlet red hour glass was quite visible. The wave of vomiting was not from being bit, but from the total fear I have of spiders. While I hate Spiders, spiders love me. I have been bitten several times by various spiders, only one was severe enough to go to the doctor.
Spiders are not the only danger lurking around cool dark places, but snakes as well. I'm not too fond of snakes either, but my fear of snakes is nothing compared to my fear of spiders. Spring and Summer offer us all kind of enjoyment, and beauty, but these months also offer us the dangers we do not often think about.
Below is a list of Spring and Summer dangers we all need to be aware of. I tried to provide my own photos on most of these, but the ones that are not mine, I have given credit to where credit is due by providing the link where I found them.
Fire ants do pose a problem around here in South Carolina. Mounds seem to pop up over night. My oldest daughter was bitten by thousands of fire ants when she was 2 years old, which covered her whole body. She has scars today all over her feet from these nasty ants.
Many people are highly allergic to bees. I have been stung several times by different species of bees. My oldest daughter was stung 26 times by yellow jackets and just a few months ago, I was stung by yellow jackets 5 times. Bumble bees normally do not bother me but I have been stung by them before. Close up and macro shots of these insects made me a tad nervous, but I never disturbed them or gave them reason to sting.
King snakes are welcome around here to keep the mice population down. They are harmless but there are other snakes we should all be aware of from cotton mouths, to water moccasins, and rattle snakes, plus many more.
Don't think for once I got close enough for these photos of the spiders! photos from http://www.spiderbegone.com
Ticks carry many diseases, rocky mountain spotted fever and lyme disease to name a few, plus these little critters can also cause many infections, headaches, etc.
photo from http://www.tickinfo.com
You might not would think mosquitoes would cause any danger, but these little vampires can transmit diseases and West Nile Virus.
photo from http://www.mosquitobarrier.com/
Thank you for reminding me of the dangers lurking under the piles of wood I need to move. I do forget about the black widows and rattle snakes. I'll be more careful. Hope you have recovered from that frightening experience. Scary!
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