Background:
I have never liked snakes. They scare me. I don’t know why. I’ve never had a bad experience involving them. I remember that when I was young, maybe middle/high school, if I was reading a book or an encyclopedia, (remember them?) I wouldn’t even touch the page that a picture of a snake was on. It creeped me out. As a child I grew up with woods across the street and in the back of our house. Most of my childhood was playing in the woods. Our neighbor had a pile of boulders in their back yard and we used to play war and climb all over those rocks. I used to love hanging out in the streams around our neighborhood and catch tadpoles and lift up rocks and find lizards, (I mostly did this by myself). We took pup tents and camped out in the middle of the woods when I was in middle school. Hung out around the reservoirs. As you probably guessed I was quite the tomboy. Always loved the woods, and still do.
We used to ride homemade rafts with big sticks in a place called Whopee, in a county park called George’s Island. We were told that it was bottomless, it didn’t matter. In my teen years we would walk through our back yard into the woods and out onto the power lines where we would pick berries. In high school we would go swimming in a place called Peterson’s Pond. (Cortlandt Manor, NY) When I think back I can’t believe I even swam there! It was full of snakes and snapping turtles. I had never run into a snake.
As an adult I was an avid hiker. I have hiked known trails, Anthony’s Nose , over Bear Mtn. Manitoga, also in the Hudson Valley. I have hiked through the woods randomly with no trails, running into old ruins of homes where only the fireplaces are left standing; around beautiful stone walls throughout Westchester and Putnam counties; trespassing through private property, (Iona Island, near Bear Mtn); Osborne Castle in Garrison, NY. Never an encounter with a snake.
When did the Fear come in:
Obviously throughout my youth I had no fear, or more likely I just didn’t think about them or obsess like I do now. It could be because of the Bible story about the snake tempting Eve, the association that snakes are evil and led to Eve eating the apple, (I do know the real meaning). I doubt it, because first of all, why was Eve tempted and not Adam? History was written by men, so I have reason to believe that she was thrown under the bus, and most likely it was Adam who succumbed to temptation. That is another story for another day, maybe.
Anyway, I digress, back to snakes and the reason I fear them. I think because they can be so long and slimy looking, (although I’ve heard their not slimy at all) I cannot identify exactly why I’m so afraid. With the amount of gardening that I do, with my head being continually in the bushes, or collecting rocks it is amazing that I have never run into one. It is more than amazing and I feel that it’s only matter of time……
I saw a video where a black snake flattened itself out and went under a closed garage door, OMG, totally still freaks me out! When I enter the garage to get in the golf cart, I look over the steps, I search the shelves and the walls, (don’t forget they can climb vertical) Getting into the golf cart, I check the weed buckets and my gardening bag. I don’t wander around the garage, (P found a snake skin by the window a couple of years ago) When I’m traveling from bed to bed, I have a small rake that I will use while sitting on the golf cart. When I am near plants, (hostas, shrubs, or any foliage that covers the ground), l use the rake. Again, I’ve yet to have any encounter. From my office I have a clear view of the pond and working around the pond, I have yet to see a snake. When I get into my SUV, I’m paranoid that a snake will come out of an air vent or from under the seat. (my neighbor growing up had a small garter snake in her car).
My neighbor has seen black snakes in his yard on multiple occasions. He tries to show me pictures and I refuse to look. P has seen black snakes in our driveway. Just yesterday he saw two right outside the garage. He relocated them over the fence in the back. I refused to look at the pictures. Today I’m afraid to go outside. I feel my time is near. I know all these thoughts percolating in my head are just escalating my fear. I also know that black snakes are “good” snakes.