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Across the Fence:  SNAKES  |
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miss wilma
True Blue Farmgirl
3410 Posts
Wilma
Knob Lick
Ky
USA
3410 Posts |
 Posted - Dec 15 2007 : 9:49:50 PM
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Do any of you girls out there have snakes around your property? Well a few years ago we had an old out building that must have been here since adam and eve,So when I decided to build my sewing house we had to tear the old building down,in all the years we had lived here I had never seen but one BIG snake, All of a sudden the following year I got the pleasure of chopping off 7 BIG snakes, they evidently came from the old building, now there are a few things in life that I cant tolerate, Snakes, mice , rats and lady bugs and flies. Sterl tells me I shouldnt kill those old black snakes but figure I can have a heart attack from a black snake as quick as a copperhead so off comes their head , I have never had a snake come in my house but today a bunch of us women were down at the shop and the subject of snakes came up Hannah told us a story about when they lived at the cabin and they were sitting in the room where the fireplace was when she just happened to glance up and saw this BIG snake coming thru a crack around the stones WELL I REACON SHE NEAR HAD A BAD ACCIDENT , So what I am wondering have any of you ever had asnake in your house and how would you get it out of your house, There is no way I want to go to sleep if I thought one was in my house Miss Wilma
I am a farm girl married to a sewing machine
http://misswilma.blogspot.com/ |
Edited by - miss wilma on Dec 28 2007 4:58:28 PM |
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - Dec 15 2007 : 10:29:50 PM
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Well, Miss Wilma, from one Kentucky girl to another--we have had those big ole black rat snakes on our fence before--just this past spring, my husband took his picture (he's about 5-6 feet), and he apparently resides in the rafters of our elderly neighbor, Mary's, garage....he can stay there if he likes  Our neighbor, Betty, has had them in her attic, and we apparently, at sometime have had a smaller snake in our attic, because during the remodel, when we took out our ceiling, I found a snakeskin in the former closet (gag)....I guess I don't mind em' if I can't see em!!!!!
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - Dec 15 2007 : 10:48:21 PM
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I've heard that, about them transplanting them--it's funny, I saw your other post about the snake handlers at church. They're true believers if they don't get bit, you know. My nanny (my daddy's momma) tried every religion before she was 25 I think (1920's and 1930's Louisiana) and daddy said he remembered them going to "tent meetings" way out in the bayou where folks were handling snakes. He was TERRIFIED of them, and I guess that might be why! Couldn't even watch the devils on National Geographic!
We were at Mammoth Cave last summer (the Green river is there, right?) and that river was teeming with swimming snakes. Gave me the cold chills, and it was August! Would those have been moccasins, I wonder?
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - Dec 15 2007 : 11:19:09 PM
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Yeah, there were people canoeing and wading and those snakes were swimming right with them! Not me, baby. You live near Glasgow, right? We went into the thriving metropolis of Glasgow on a Sunday night searching for a nice bottle of wine for our anniversary (we spent my dh's birthday and our anniversary at Mammoth Cave), but it's dry all the way around there. Ironically, they have a Scottish Highland Festival there, and I don't know TOO many scots who don't like the brews!!!!
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - Dec 15 2007 : 11:34:01 PM
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sleep tight....and don't let the snakes (??) bite?
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
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knewslady
True Blue Farmgirl
555 Posts
Kathy
Russellville
KY
USA
555 Posts |
Posted - Dec 16 2007 : 05:02:10 AM
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One time my mother went to get a canning jar out of the cabinet and there was a snake curled up in it. Needless to say she went outside and kept us out there until Daddy got home.
Another time there was one stretched out on the mantle in the living room. Daddy had to shoot that one.
My mother was terrified of snakes so Daddy bought me a 22 rifle and I was the official "snake shooter."
Another time when my twin nieces were about 3 or 4 they were waiting in the truck for their mother and being normal toddlers they locked the doors. When my sister walked to the truck there was a snake stretched out on the gun rack with her two babies sitting in the seat unaware of anything and refused to unlock the doors. Daddy broke the window.
If I know they are there they don't scare me, but I hate walking up on one and suddenly have the ground beneath you move. But nothing, and I mean nothing, scares me as much as an old rooster running toward me. They flogged me so many times when I was growing up I just go into sheer panic with I get in any kind of range of a rooster.....shudder to think about one.
Kathy |
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willowtreecreek
True Blue Farmgirl
4813 Posts
Julie
Russell
AR
USA
4813 Posts |
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mikesgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
3659 Posts
Sherri
Elma
WA
USA
3659 Posts |
Posted - Dec 16 2007 : 06:27:55 AM
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| You guys are freaking me out! There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING more terrifying to me than the thought of a snake in the house. I don't care if it's a harmless little garter snake or a 6' cobra, I would NEVER enter that house again if I came upon one. We built our cabin in Montana and never saw a single snake, then last summer, the neighbor had two in their front yard that she chased down with a hoe and the neighbors up the road had a RATTLEsnake for DINNER one night that the husband had killed in the yard that day. Noone told me about this before we bought the property! Honestly girls, if I ever see a snake anywhere CLOSE to that cabin, you're going to see this ad: "To Give Away, darling cabin on 20 acres in central Montana!" |
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
Posted - Dec 16 2007 : 09:05:42 AM
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WE HAVE A RESIDENT BIG 'BLACK SNAKE' THAT SLITHERS UNDER THE BACK 'GARDEN PORCH' FROM TIME TO TIME HERE AT FREEDOM VALLEY FARM .. ONLY SLITHERS AROUND THE GARDENS NOW AND THEN. WE HAVE LEFT HIM (HA! AND PROBABLY HIS FAMILY TOO!) ALONE .. BECAUSE THEY ARE GOOD CREATURES OF GOD.
NOW .. I DON'T WANT HIM TO FIND HIM RESTIN' ON THE RAFTERS INSIDE THE HOUSE .. THAT'S FOR SURE .. BUT EVEN IF HE DID .. WE'D JUS' SHOO HIM BACK OUTSIDE.
THE FIRST TIME I EVER DISCOVERED HIM WAS SOON AFTER I'D MOVED HERE AND HONEY HUNK HADN'T MOVED TO KENUCKY YET. I WAS GETTING READY TO HAVE THE GARDEN CLUB HERE FOR DINNER AND A FRIEND EVIE FROM DOWN THE ROAD HAD ARRIVED EARLY .. SHE'S A COUNTRY GIRL (AND LOVES ALL OF NATURE) AND WASN'T THE LEAST BIT 'A-FEARED' OF SNAKES .. I JUST HEARD HER CALL MY NAME FROM THE FRONT PORCH AND WHEN I WENT TO SEE WHAT SHE WANTED .. THERE SHE WAS WITH "JAKE THE SNAKE" (ABOUT 5 FEET LONG!) SHE ASKED "WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WITH THIS GUY?" INVITE HIM IN? (MY FRONT DOOR WAS WIDE OPEN!)
WELL!!! THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE I'D SEEN SUCH A BIG SNAKE UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL .. SOO .. THIS CITY GAL JUS' SCREAMED .. YELLED .. "I'LL BE RIGHT BACK"!!! HANG ONTO HIM! JUMPED IN MY CAR AND RACED UP THE HILL TO NEIGHBOR GLEN AND MARY'S HOUSE .. HE IS A 'GOOD 'OLE COUNTRY BOY'!! I BANGED ON THEIR FRONT DOOR YELLIN' ... GLEN! SNAKE! SNAKE! GIT 'CHER GUN!!! ... HE AMBLED OUT TO MY CAR GRINNIN' (AND GUN-LESS!!!!) AND RODE BACK DOWN THE HILL. THERE WAS MISS EDIE 'SNAKE-SITTIN' FOR ME! GLEN WALKED UP TO THAT BIG 'OLE COW SNAKE ... PICKED HIM UP AND WRAPPED HIM AROUND HIS NECK .. AND WALKED BACK UP THE HILL WITH HIS NEW 'SNAKE' NECKTIE!!! WELL, JAKE (OR HIS KITH AND KIN) FOUND THEIR WAY BACK DOWN THE ROAD .. CUZ' WE SEE HIM FROM TIME TO TIME .. ONLY SAW HIM 'ONCE' DURING 2007 .. SOOOO I'M FIGGERIN' HE MOVED TO E-TOWN WITH GLEN AND MARY! I SOMETIMES MISS JAKE! XO, FRANNIE
whoops .. i get to typin' without lookin' ... usually in ALL 'lower' caps .. but sometimes in 'upper' .. i've jus' never seen it as 'yelling' .. more as 'enthusiasm'.
True Friends * Frannie
HEAR MY STORIES
come, visit my:
"GATHERING ROOM" ..
http://freedomvalleyfarm.blogspot.com
adopt a 'rag-chile'
http://sistermercysfoundlinhome.blogspot.com
AFRICA .. through my eyes and heart
http://africathroughmyeyesandheart.blogspot.com
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Edited by - CabinCreek-Kentucky on Dec 16 2007 4:51:20 PM |
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mommatracy
True Blue Farmgirl
490 Posts
Tracy
My. Olive
NC
USA
490 Posts |
Posted - Dec 16 2007 : 09:52:42 AM
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| Yep,had several "too close" encounters with snakes in the house. 1. In 1980 we had recently moved in to a new house and I found a snake crawling across my kitchen counter. Had a screaming fit and had a smack down with a wooden cutting board till dead. 2. 1981 Woke up one night to visit bathroom -snake in commode. Small snake was quickly sent back where it came from with a quick flush. 3.1999 I was sewing late one night and felt something under my foot. Guess what, I looked down and there was a 3foot snake beneath my sewing machine. Another screaming fit and finished him off with a long vacuum cleaner attachment and an old fashioned iron. |
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shawna
True Blue Farmgirl
241 Posts
missouri (north)
241 Posts |
Posted - Dec 16 2007 : 10:03:11 AM
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now that i have thrown up! i just have to tell you that i do not like to share my breathing space with snakes!!! i don't even like to be in a house that has a snake "pet". i know that they get rid of mice, we have a cat for that! Thanks a lot, girls. iwill have bad dreams now!!
xoxxo MERRY CHRISTMAS xoxxo |
Edited by - shawna on Dec 16 2007 9:03:44 PM |
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miss wilma
True Blue Farmgirl
3410 Posts
Wilma
Knob Lick
Ky
USA
3410 Posts |
Posted - Dec 16 2007 : 10:20:22 AM
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Shawna were just nuts, You cant have bad dreams because there is a saying I heard years ago about snake dreaming and that would be worse than a snake in the house but I am like you I will not live with those things Love ya miss wilma
I am a farm girl married to a sewing machine
http://misswilma.blogspot.com/ |
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Carol
Moderator/MaryJane's Design Diva
452 Posts
Carol
Moscow
Idaho
USA
452 Posts |
Posted - Dec 16 2007 : 10:29:05 AM
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Hi girls.
As we've said in the past, remember to avoid YELLING at us by making your posts ALL CAPS ... not to mention it's MIGHTY hard to read!!! It's okay for emphasis, but please avoid typing the main body of your messages in caps.
Your friendly scrooge,
Carol
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, red wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming 'WOO HOO, what a ride!'"
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
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Shirlaroo
True Blue Farmgirl
297 Posts
Shirley
Australia
297 Posts |
Posted - Dec 16 2007 : 6:27:55 PM
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I had a little green tree snake come in the house when I was just about ready to burst with child! It was the summer time and I was cooling off with just my nickers on. It scared the willies out of me, I was alone. I sat purched on the back of the lounge until I was brave enough to hop down and get the broom to chase him out. It must have looked funny. A naked pregnant woman chasing a snake with a broom.
Friends are the best collectables. |
Edited by - Shirlaroo on Dec 16 2007 6:32:26 PM |
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shawna
True Blue Farmgirl
241 Posts
missouri (north)
241 Posts |
Posted - Dec 16 2007 : 9:07:40 PM
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i can't even look at the tv when a snake is on, make me feel sick, yuck, yuck, yuck!!!
xoxxo MERRY CHRISTMAS xoxxo |
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kissmekate
True Blue Farmgirl
890 Posts
Kate
Delano
Minnesota
890 Posts |
Posted - Dec 16 2007 : 9:41:52 PM
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Frannie,
I love your Jake the Snake story. I have tears running down my face from laughing.
When I was a kid we had snakes in our house. Garter snakes that would sneak in. Terrified the heck out of me. I still am scared of snakes. My Mom used to have to shake out her loads of laundry from the dryer, they would sneak in through the exhaust. (for the heat)
When I was in kindergarten, I was getting ready to go to school. I went into my room to get my shoes and there was a snake curled right up, all cozy like next to my shoes. I missed school that day because Mom and I weren't going to "wrestle" that snake for my shoes. LOL
The neighbor came over later to get him and shoo him outside.
If I recall, something with peanut butter outside the house got rid of them. Evidently they don't like it.
That and there were more homes built in the neighborhood, so that helped too.
Don't miss out on a blessing, just because it isn't packaged the way you expected. ~MaryJo Copeland |
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Annab
True Blue Farmgirl
2900 Posts
Anna
Seagrove
NC
USA
2900 Posts |
Posted - Dec 17 2007 : 03:47:02 AM
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So what's worse, snakes or vermine and disease??
I get a start every time there's one in the chicken coop. It's more anoying than scary. But then again, I'm the animal person, so not a whole lot makes me scream and stand on a chair like a little girl.
However, I too have limitations and really don't care to come across big roaches and cetipedes. And as for those lady bugs. The real ones know better than to come into my house. And the foreign ones get flushed or gently squished just the same.
We have had 4 snakes under the house. Figure they were there for overwintering. One gave our plumber a bad start.
If there were one in the house I wouldn't be able to rest either. Something about wakig up with one un the bed with you trying to get warm!
And remember, ifyou do have the hudzpah to just remove snakes and not kill them, they keep a home range for a mile or so. So keep walking. However , the vacancy just makes room for more to take up residence. |
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - Dec 17 2007 : 09:03:18 AM
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I'm trying to find the photo of the "guy" that my husband took in the early Springtime. We emailed it to the extension service at UK, and he replied that I had a "very handsome black rat snake, who is VERY beneficial"...so, we let him be. I don't mind if he eats what he eats, and I belive that's rodents, etc...
Oh!!! Here is he is!
Another view
I don't mind mice...I have 3 cats (and they don't seem to mind them either )...Funny mouse story...I was in my kitchen, getting ready to prepare dinner and I noted our gray long haired cat, Stooka, hanging out and opening up the lower cabinets with her paw. "Must be a mouse" I thought, as I went about my business...After a while, she was WAY too much underfoot, so I shooed her out. I had just been given a lovely large, globulal vase of sunflowers, and I had taken them out to do a fresh cut on the stems, so all that was remaining was this large, globe-like vase of water. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something small move quickly in the direction of the vase...a few seconds later, I retreated from the kichen in haste, because whatever "it" was, was standing behind the vase, and maginified ten times by the globe vase and water!!!!!!! Turns out, it was just a field mouse with a HYSTERICAL sense of humor!!!!!
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
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catscharm74
True Blue Farmgirl
4687 Posts
Heather
Texas
USA
4687 Posts |
Posted - Dec 17 2007 : 09:08:43 AM
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Oh Jonni!! I can see that mouse....cracking me up!!!
Cheers,
Heather |
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downbranchroad
True Blue Farmgirl
374 Posts
Joy
Southern
KY
USA
374 Posts |
Posted - Dec 17 2007 : 09:22:51 AM
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Well girls, I grew up on a farm here in Southern KY and seein a snake is no big deal for me. Now a big ole spider, is another story.
Not long after we moved to Slickford they had a Holy Ghost Revival that lasted weeks. Well, one night I was invited by a friend from up on the creek to go to the "meeting" that night,and I thought gosh they must be having real good meetins for it to have lasted weeks. So I went. Well folks, they had snakes, BIGGINS! Although snakes dont scare me in the least, I dont want to be in a church meetin where they are draggin them things out and jumping around with them. The revival lasted another week or so but needless to say I didnt feel the need to go. Dont think I ever went back there.
Appalachian Girl Jem |
Edited by - downbranchroad on Dec 17 2007 09:26:16 AM |
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - Dec 17 2007 : 09:48:09 AM
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That's really fascinating to me, the serpent handling in churches...like I mentioned before, my Nanny took my dad all over to those meetings in the 20's and 30's in rural Louisiana and Arkansas....aside from that, I think his fear of snakes came from being raised by his two grandmothers after Nanny abandoned him...they made him pick blackberries and boy howdy do those snakes like those blackberry bushes!!! He also tells a tale of driving a horse trailer up old 25 (from Florida)in 1940, with a groomer and they pulled over to take a nap somewhere in the hottest part of the afternoon. The left the doors to the truck open, and when he dreamily awoke, there was a BIG rattle snake stretched out, sunning himself in the crevice where the dashboard meets the windshield. Dad said he musta run 4 miles before his companion caught up with him!!!!
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
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Peanut
True Blue Farmgirl
603 Posts
Jennifer
Waverly
Virginia
USA
603 Posts |
Posted - Dec 17 2007 : 10:01:32 AM
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We have a blacksnake on the farm... "Blackie" (so original!). I love him because he takes care of a lot of the mice. I hate mice wayyyy more than a snake.
"What is a farm but a mute gospel?"
Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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miss wilma
True Blue Farmgirl
3410 Posts
Wilma
Knob Lick
Ky
USA
3410 Posts |
Posted - Dec 17 2007 : 12:12:57 PM
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Girl a good hoe and a small pkg of just one bite will take care of both of them I havent found a way to get rid of spiders but I am terrfied of them, I was bitten by a brown recluse several years ago and still have scars from it.Any way I have no rocks closer than probaly 20 feet of my house The air holes are plugged to conserve heat so I am not going to worry that one might be crawling around Any way I think they hibernate for the winter, So if they are brave enough to come back in the spring I will waiting Miss Wilma
I am a farm girl married to a sewing machine
http://misswilma.blogspot.com/ |
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downbranchroad
True Blue Farmgirl
374 Posts
Joy
Southern
KY
USA
374 Posts |
Posted - Dec 17 2007 : 12:59:38 PM
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Jonni,
The meetin I went to, was in the mid 1970's! Yep, right here in Southern KY, some 30 odd years ago! Don't here of that takin place here anymore. But there is still a lot of churches out in these mountains and hollars' and who knows?
Appalachian Girl Jem |
Edited by - downbranchroad on Dec 17 2007 1:02:55 PM |
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miss wilma
True Blue Farmgirl
3410 Posts
Wilma
Knob Lick
Ky
USA
3410 Posts |
Posted - Dec 17 2007 : 1:06:56 PM
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Joy I dont know if you hear much London news or not but there is a law suit going on there now from a woman being bitten last summer. She died, then the husband who had always preached it was wrong to sue people, has the hospital sued for not taking care of her right, It was in the paper when I went home. Yes there is still a lot of snake handling goes on down there Miss WILMA
I am a farm girl married to a sewing machine
http://misswilma.blogspot.com/ |
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Across the Fence: SNAKES |
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SNAKES
