I saw a show last night about poisonous creatures in Australia. One creature is the red backed spider which lays lots of eggs, spawning 100 new spiders each egg cycle. The tiny babies fly like bubbles through the air to their new homes. These black and red spiders are very poisonous and dangerous and live mostly where humans live because of their preference for cement areas and buildings. They showed one lurking in a cement drain pipe. This morning I talked online with my Everquest best friend near Brisbane and mentioned this. Although this TV show made it seem that the bite of one is deadly, Ixsta said that in order to really hurt an adult it would have to be a big spider, or a lot of bites. But he said that they are indeed very dangerous to children. An urgent trip to an emergency room for anti-venom is necessary in any case. They have a little boy, Jordan, who I have never met, but who I like very much and have seen pictures of. Then he said, "I have to go to the basement and see how many are still there, since we are approaching summer here." Sorry to say this, Ix, but that makes me a wee bit nervous. I would not like having poisonous things in my house. I asked him if there was any "poison" that could be put around to deminish these devils...and he said no, they say these cannot be poisoned. I bet they can't!
The show also had man eating crocodiles, and Ix said that they are further South. Thank God for that! The jellyfish are perhaps the most awesome of poisonous creatures, and Australia has them in the beautiful coral reefs too. I think that tropical climates have more interesting poisonous things than here in the North East US. But...maybe they are here waiting for me, but I would not know it. I know that Massachusetts has a mean case of poison ivy all along every road side, something to keep in mind if you ever have a flat tire.
As a teenager in Oklahoma, my brother, who I adored and looked up to (literally), would go down to the North Canadian River and shoot Cottonmouth snakes, a particularly poisonous, large, and really nasty snake that was pretty common along those red dusty riverbanks. He came home one day and said that he killed one that had just eaten a baby cottontail rabbit (poor wabbit), and saw the rabbit struggling to get free after the snake was already dead. Not sure if that is a "tall tale", but it made an impression on this nine year old that I have not forgotten. The world was "crustier" and more accessible then. Hunting was big sport in Oklahoma in those days. My brother used to take me to the fences and let me shoot cans off of them with his .22. He would hold the barrel of the gun for me sometimes and I would squint and aim. These days we just zoom by the fields and byways in our air conditioned big wheels and ignore all the fascinating stinging and biting critters that lurk in the crevices of the world.
So, my EQ friends Ixsta, Angelicca (a true angel if ever there was one), and my little friend Jordan, (hug), if you ever read this, you be careful over there in the Down Under....especially the down under of your own basement.
