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So, no moving to Georgia again.? I lived there for 4 months in 1981, didn't see any, but that was in an apartment.? I'll still avoid that entire state, just in case.? This is in no way unreasonable.

Right?

Tonda

I only saw them in NC when we had that woodpile. We got to the point where I'd they were in reach we could catch them in two solo cups and throw them outside. They were so big killing them was hard and messy.? I'd forgotten about them mostly, which would explain why we moved to Georgia. They are all over here!

Oops, forgot to quote. I meant Palmetto bugs. They are so creepy.

I only saw them in NC when we had that woodpile. We got to the point where I'd they were in reach we could catch them in two solo cups and throw them outside. They were so big killing them was hard and messy.? I'd forgotten about them mostly, which would explain why we moved to Georgia. They are all over here!

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OK, black widows don't attack humans unless they thing that they are threatened, and I suppose they could easily feel threatened by bid, loud, clumsy, hostile humans.? I still miss my kitchen sink guardian, though.? It wasn't like my brother was actually going to volunteer for kitchen duty regardless.

And yes, those horrible giant bugs are AWFUL.? I never saw them in the Carolinas, though (thank you Lord for all your mercies).

And if you want OTT - the last time I saw a P bug, I grabbed a blunt instrument and bludgeoned it, all while screaming DIE DIE DIE.? Freaked my roommates out big time.? Chris was nice enough to take my bug-killing weapon away and dispose of the disgusting remains.? Will Maine be far enough north, do you think?? Not that I can afford to move.

Tonda

Black widows do attack humans. I grew up in AZ where they are common and knew lots of people who got bit. Doesn't kill often but necrosis is gross. Palmetto bugs are terrifying, they go all the way up to North Carolina. I know because they kept coming in our house when it rained until we got rid of the woodpile the previous owners left. Apparently, they like dead wood until it gets wet then the seek nearest dry shelter. Eeeeeewwww!
I laughed not at his fear as much as at his way OTT reaction and the looks on the faces of the police. Also I really never have seen a spider that small, I never understood how he even noticed it while driving.

Black widows do attack humans. I grew up in AZ where they are common and knew lots of people who got bit. Doesn't kill often but necrosis is gross. Palmetto bugs are terrifying, they go all the way up to North Carolina. I know because they kept coming in our house when it rained until we got rid of the woodpile the previous owners left. Apparently, they like dead wood until it gets wet then the seek nearest dry shelter. Eeeeeewwww!
I laughed not at his fear as much as at his way OTT reaction and the looks on the faces of the police. Also I really never have seen a spider that small, I never understood how he even noticed it while driving.

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Hey, phobias are NOT funny.? I mean, I thought it was hilarious when my 6'4" brother refused to go near the kitchen sink due to my pest control method (a fairly large black widow spider lived in the corner for years - calm down, they don't attack humans).?

But I've nearly had heart attacks when the power went out at night (I'm afraid of the dark), and I really want to leave Florida because there are huge, man-eating bugs down here.

Palmetto bugs are enormous!? Like 3 feet long!

OK, they're maybe 2-3 inches long, and they're harmless to humans, in spite of them having a nasty habit of flying right at your face (not an exaggeration).

So, I should never, ever laugh at someone's fear.? Though I am grateful that none of my phobias could actually hurt me.? I don't panic unless it's over something totally harmless.

I'm not crazy...

Tonda

My late husband was like that about spiders. He was a big man but spiders turned him into a screaming lunatic and that's no exaggeration. One time we were in the car and suddenly he starts squealing unintelligible sounds, pulls into the nearest parking lot and jumps out of the car. I had no idea what was happening. I get out of the car he's still jumping up and down and I ask, possibly a little impatiently what the hell is going on. He's all didn't you see it and I ask what I was supposed to see. THE SPIDER! That got yelled really loud. I finally get him to say where, apparently hanging off the rear view mirror. I go into the car and eventually see the smallest spider I've ever seen hanging off the mirror, it easily could have been mistaken for a dust mote. I squished it with a napkin so I'd have proof it was gone. My husband kept going on about how scary it was and how brave I was. I finally get him in the car and on the way home. I was already barely keeping from hysterical laughter, then I looked around the parking lot he pulled into. Little strip of stores and the local police precinct. It was all glass fronted and what just have been every officer in the building was standing and staring out the window. They probably thought there was going to be a domestic violence incident with the way he was screaming and about half of them looked like they'd figured out what was going on and were laughing. That was it for me and I laughed all the way home and through the telling to the family. Until the day he died he sword it was a giant spider. Still cracks me up.

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I would just like to point out that Minks are carnivores, not rodents. They are mustelids, related to ferrets, weasels (I almost wrote "Weasleys"), otters and wolverines. They come from the non-obligate side of the carnivore order, but most of their diet is meat. In many of the mink farms, their diet is their brethren who have already been skinned.
FNelson

My late husband was like that about spiders. He was a big man but spiders turned him into a screaming lunatic and that's no exaggeration. One time we were in the car and suddenly he starts squealing unintelligible sounds, pulls into the nearest parking lot and jumps out of the car. I had no idea what was happening. I get out of the car he's still jumping up and down and I ask, possibly a little impatiently what the hell is going on. He's all didn't you see it and I ask what I was supposed to see. THE SPIDER! That got yelled really loud. I finally get him to say where, apparently hanging off the rear view mirror. I go into the car and eventually see the smallest spider I've ever seen hanging off the mirror, it easily could have been mistaken for a dust mote. I squished it with a napkin so I'd have proof it was gone. My husband kept going on about how scary it was and how brave I was. I finally get him in the car and on the way home. I was already barely keeping from hysterical laughter, then I looked around the parking lot he pulled into. Little strip of stores and the local police precinct. It was all glass fronted and what just have been every officer in the building was standing and staring out the window. They probably thought there was going to be a domestic violence incident with the way he was screaming and about half of them looked like they'd figured out what was going on and were laughing. That was it for me and I laughed all the way home and through the telling to the family. Until the day he died he sword it was a giant spider. Still cracks me up.

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That's my mother in a nutshell. Her age and IQ revert to six years old, as her voice hits an ungodly high pitch and achieves warp speed.

Back in '83, my Gran and I had to get rid of a nest that was inside the tractor. How she and I found out about it, was due to the Mach 1 squealing in terror woman who rushed inside, up the stairs and into the bathroom, all in the time it took me to turn around to see what the bother was. Getting only the word "MICE!" out of her in that same high pitch, Gran snorted and took me outside to brain the little shits. I chased, she got them with a hoe. Went to check on mom, and she was sitting on top of the sink counter, legs drawn up, and with her arms wrapped around them. What she said was in a whisper, "Are they gone?" - "Yes dear, the bad mice are gone," Gran replied. I couldn't help but laugh at the matter, making her mad. "It's not funny!"

She can handle garden snakes, big-assed spiders, wasps, bees and the like.... but not mice. Noooo. Never mice or rats.

Funniest goddamn thing I can remember about my childhood, mom doing that.

Have you ever been around mink? They'd probably add to the screaming horrors from what I've read and seen. Vicious little bastards is mentioned a couple posts ago and it's pretty accurate.

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Hey, how you feel, how you react, is never stupid.? There are always reasons for it, and they're good reasons, whether anyone realizes or not.

I'm the daughter of a farm boy who ran away to join the Navy, and the granddaughter of farm kids who left the farm for city jobs.? I will NEVER be a farmer, but I still have the attitudes of one in several regards.? I understand that farm animals are there for reasons, and that if you're going to raise animals for the table, you can't be squeamish and you're foolish if you don't use as much of the animal as possible.? I eat meat, I wear leather, I use feathers in art and craft projects.

I don't expect ANYONE to share this attitude.? I just find it incredibly hilarious that you described my mother as RICH.? I'll give you the crazy on occasion, though.? She raised me, right?

Oh, and for the record, rats and mice give me screaming horrors.

Tonda

You are right and I apologize for the offense. I have an ick factor with fur in general and rodents in particular. Also a child of the eighties nightmare memory from the Ghostbusters movie where that woman's coat came to life and attacked her. Someone gave me a rabbit fur coat when I was young and it was so soft until it registered to me that the leather under the fur was skin and I also had an issue with eating rabbit shortly after petting the ones still alive. This is stupid of me because I have no problem with leather clothing and eating meat. In a survival mode I'd wear or eat whatever but in today's world I'm thinking most of the people who wear mink have no idea they are rodents and rodents gross me out.

"AlyssonR" <alyssonrowan@...> writes:

So, you can catch Covid from wearing fur coats. Good to
know.

Incidentally, having had to deal with them in the past, Mink
are on NOBODY's side.

Untrue! They're on the side of the minks. Vicious little bastards.

Shalon Wood

Don't get covid from kangaroos only bloody ticks.
Cheers
Z

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You are right and I apologize for the offense. I have an ick factor with fur in general and rodents in particular. Also a child of the eighties nightmare memory from the Ghostbusters movie where that woman's coat came to life and attacked her. Someone gave me a rabbit fur coat when I was young and it was so soft until it registered to me that the leather under the fur was skin and I also had an issue with eating rabbit shortly after petting the ones still alive. This is stupid of me because I have no problem with leather clothing and eating meat. In a survival mode I'd wear or eat whatever but in today's world I'm thinking most of the people who wear mink have no idea they are rodents and rodents gross me out.

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Crazy rich people?

My mother was lower-middle-class before she married my father.? She got a job as a secretary at the Dept. of the Navy, saved up for a bit, and bought herself a mink coat.? It was pretty, it was warm (my mom always HATED to be cold), and it was comfortable.

And she bought it all by herself on a government secretary's pay in the '50s.? It kept her warm for 3 decades, a lot better than most coats today will last.

Just because minks are rodents in no way makes their fur unpleasant, ugly, or useless.?

Tonda

It's always cracked me up that these crazy rich people run around wearing the pelts of dead rodents. Minks are just better furred than their ferret and rat cousins.