Scared of Spiders

[Tomo]

Remember it quite clearly Dazza, and the cause of the whole problem with the shoot out at Port Author, a sad day.

 

Mate of mine uses his bow quite a lot, including myself when in PNG, although I could have used anything there!

 

Funny you mention slashing snakes Nev, we had a huge King Brown come through once and I wasn't getting anywhere near it and it was moving pretty quick, didn't want to risk loosing it if we went and got the gun. So I jumped on our mower, which is a "Yazoo" style, with 6 foot deck out the front and seat at the back, well, I stood on the seat and work out our closing angle... and blow me down collected him full length of the deck, almost stalled the engine on the mower - but job done. Sorry to all the snake lovers, but a King Brown is no snake to fool with, especially when there are kids around.

 

 

[facthunter]

Yeah Tomo, you can "FILLET" going through. Bad Pun. There's no shortage of them. One poor fella , a brown, reared up and I had a tomato stake that had rotted to a sort of a point below ground, and I threw it. ( I would have to be one of the most unlikely people to pull this off.) The stake went through it about 2'' behind the head. Since I was aiming at him he should have been pretty safe. Nev

 

 

[kaz3g]

True story No. 2... Back in the late 1970's I had a station in the Upper Gascoyne of WA. It was about 350 miles north-east of Carnavon, red dirt and ironstone with some quartz country thrown in. Hot and dry.

 

Ian and Jilly D, my friends next door but one and about 80 miles away had 4 boys. The eldest two went off to boarding school in Perth while the two younger ones stayed home with a governess. Came school holidays and the two big fellas arrived home via Mickey Mouse Airlines bringing with them a couple of mates. They were all having a great time driving 4Wd's, shooting 'roos and sorting out the cattle. Boys' Own stuff!

 

One morning I heard the emergency alarm go off on the "pedal" (HF SSB radio). It was my friends from down the way wanting to speak to the doctor. Everyone for a thousand miles around was listening, keyed up, wondering what catastrophe had occurred. This was pretty tough country and we had our share of tragedies, I can tell you (Ian was killed a couple of years later in his C150 chasing cattle).

 

But Jilly D, was on the pedal and I hung on her every word as it came through on the speaker in our kitchen. It was one of the new kids, up for the holidays. What was wrong? Jilly sounded as though she was choking.

 

Turns out this strapping young lad has drunk bore water from one of the troughs instead of getting rainwater from a tank and has had a dose of the trots during the night. Went to the loo without a torch 'cause the moon was so bright. Sat on the seat. Searing burning sensation on the extremity of the lowest appendage presented to the inside of the toilet bowl. Rapid swelling. Considerable pain. Loud noises from said young fella.

 

Mother Redback was still there when Ian went to investigate.

 

Young fella airlifted to Carnarvon with an ice compress on his most sensitive parts.

 

I always lift the lid before sitting...and I shake my boots out before putting them on.

 

kaz

 

 

[dazza 38]

Ouch Kaz, that would have hurt the young bloke.

 

 

[Scooby]

Damn Kaz, my legs crossed for a second after reading that! I know the pain of a redback in a sensitive area, but that poor bloke.

 

 

[Ultralights]

im not usually scared of snakes or spiders as long as i can see them, snakes, the only nes that do scare me a Browns and King browns, as theya re agressive bastards, but redbellies etc arnt usually fatal if they bite, and will only bite if provoked or cornered. browns are just mean bad buggers.

 

 

[flying dog]

Ok, my turn.

 

One day, I saw a huntsman. He was "up there" so I didn't worry. The next day I put on my boots and am walking. I feel something in one of the boots. Nothing serious, but "different". Fluff is often found in them from the socks.

 

I stop and take off my boot. Lowe and behold, one dead huntsman.

 

I didn't think my feet were that bad.

 

Extracted the spider, and put the boot back on.

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

The only good snake is a dead snake, unless it isn't a harmful one, such as tree snakes, or carpet snakes, pythons etc...

After getting a few too many bites from the 'non harmful ones' you mention I came to a conclusion: snakes are rather like people. As they get older most of them get grumpier. There is no such thing as 'dangerous' species and 'docile' species - within each snake species is a great range of personalities from crazed-junkie-angry through to permanantly indolent. Mostly the young are OK with people (good because they can be VERY fast), mostly the older not so pleasant.

 

 

[ahlocks]

.. within each snake species.../... through to permanantly indolent.

An example of this would be the mature trouser snake, yes?

 

 

[Bryon]

Now, now Ahlocks, lets not get ageist:csm:

 

 

[ahlocks]

and in keeping with the indolent snake theme, there has been speculation the Pfizer are contemplating changing the colour of their little pill to maroon as the blues never seem to get up...

 

 

[Admin]

It's not spiders that I am scared of, but spider webs...if there is a spider web there's likely to be one of those buggers lurking around ready to pounce somewhere??????

 

 

[kaz3g]

It's not spiders that I am scared of, but spider webs...if there is a spider web there's likely to be one of those buggers lurking around ready to pounce somewhere??????

Ok... true story number 3 and the last, I promise.

 

I had a succession of governesses for the kids while I was on the station. They used to come out all (i) wide-eyed, (ii) believing the myths (iii) enjoying the fresh air and (iv) ready to embrace the outback, (and sometimes the jackaroos as well). It usually didn't take long and they began to realise that we were (a) isolated, (b) without tv, © most always working, and (d) that jackaroos aren't always the romantic types they're put out to be. Some stuck it out longer than others. Kerry, however was only with us for a few days.

 

Kerry came to us straight from the recruiters in suburban Perth. She was a largish girl, in fact very largish, but she had a pleasant smile and seemed to make an immediate hit with the kids. It was hot! Bloody hot! Early January and the mercury was hitting the low 50's already. Kerry found the heat trying.

 

Then we had a call on the "pedal" from friends on Nyang station up near Karratha. Would we be able to come up for a few weeks and station sit for them while they went to Perth? Close to the coast (sea breeze... the Dr), big pool in the Yanrie R next to the homestead, a shop (Barradale roadhouse) with ice-cream only 18 miles away, and an inground pool............ OF COURSE WE WOULD!

 

We left the roo shooter in charge at home and headed on up. Me, the ex, 3 kids. Kerry and a dog.

 

I won't bore you with tales of blood and gore (a worker on a neighbouring station had put his shin in the flywheel of the diesel generator just before we passed through) or of drowning the 4WD in the Yannarie River crossing (which was a bit deeper than the driver thought it was), but I will tell you about what happened to Kerry.

 

We arrived, our friends headed off to Perth in the C182 and we relaxed in the pool. Beautiful. And a beautiful homestead, too. Stone and mud, like so many of its kind, with big verandahs all the way around. Each bedroom with ensuite opened off the verandah for maximum cooling in the breeze that came like clockwork each mid-afternoon. Magnificent!

 

Ex had wandered off somewhere. Kids were swimming with Kerry and I was half asleep in the shade sipping a G&T.

 

I noticed Kerry heading back to the homestead in her less than becoming Speedo all-overs. She disappeared into the dark of her doorway.

 

About 60 seconds later, I heard this hysterical scream and Kerry reappeared from her doorway heading back towards me as fast as she could with the Speedos down around her knees.

 

It took some time to decipher the blubbering sobs as her voice came down from somewhere above high C.

 

I finally made out that something had happened in the toilet (yes, the toilet again).

 

I went in and waited for my eyes to adjust to the gloom (the generator wasn't running because it was daytime).

 

I looked in the toilet and understanding instantly dawned.

 

There in the toilet bowl looking very pleased with itself was a Dugite. It wasn't a very big Dugite but it was fishing for frogs with the intention, no doubt of getting bigger.

 

(Every time you flush a toilet in that country, frogs cascade from under the rim where they collect to soak up the moisture. They even collect in the U-bend. Yes, it's that bloody dry they'll do anything to get wet!)

 

Now Dugites for the uninitiated are a bit like the eastern Copperhead. They are a bit slow and not terribly aggressive although they are poisonous snake and can make you very sick if they bite you.

 

This one, as I said, was fishing when I went in to the bathroom just as, no doubt, it was when Kerry went in............. and sat down.

 

The Dugite, wondering at the sudden loss of all daylight, must have raised itself to find out the cause of the problem and, cold and wet, kissed Kerry where she had never been kissed before.

 

Kerry caught the bus back to Perth later that afternoon and I never heard from her again.

 

kaz

 

 

[flying dog]