When asked to give a list of greatest fears, most people start off with the standard list: Heights, Spiders, snakes, Dying, and all that stuff. Rarely do they think of fire ants. For those of you who are lucky enough to be unaware of the existence of those little buggers, allow me to enlighten you. Fire ants are almost the exact same as other ants, except worse. Instead of being black and looking friendly because all they want to do is find food to take back to their families, these minions of Satan are red and just want to invoke pain upon the innocent.
You see, although they seem too small to inflict any pain, when irritated fire ants sting and can cause extreme pain and irritation. When infected, the sting of a fire ant can become infected and will form pustule’s and will cause scarring. They are called fire ants not only for their flame like color, but also because of the feeling their sting can leave with you.
Now that you have a solid background on fire ants, allow me to share with you the scene that seemed to come straight out of a horror movie. My aunt Sharon, who recently passed bless her sole, had a frightful encounter of her own with fire ants. A few years ago Sharon began to get awful rashes all over her body, her doctor was unsure of what was causing the mysterious rashes began to treat her for allergies. After several weeks of the allergy medications had no affect, she decided to get her bed inspected by a pest control specialist for bed bugs. Good news: there was no sign of bed bugs. Bad news: Her bed had become a nest of fire ants. They had migrated from a main colony in the attic and were using her bed as a stopping point for food. Sharon immediately threw away her mattress and was sure to get her fire ant infestation taken care of as soon as possible.
Monthly Archives: March 2018
Stink, Stank, Skunk
There are many stories in this world about people getting sprayed by skunks, most of the time it’s because they accidentally frightened a skunk or they just tried to shoo it away and got a face full of spray. Unfortunately for me, the reason I was sprayed with a skunk was due to my own stupidity.
As an avid photographer, I leap at every chance I get to build my portfolio. Of course, this means that on occasion I am often put in precarious situations in order to get the best shot possible. Often times I have to get fairly up close and personal with the subject of my photos, and as you can imagine that can be a little hazardous when it comes to wild animals.
One morning while I was eating my disgustingly healthy oatmeal, I was looking out my glass back doors when a small movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. Now not to brag, but I have a beautifully lush garden that is always perfect for taking pictures. So when a wild animal wanders into my small slice of garden of Eden, I always take advantage and snap a few pictures. I grabbed my camera and flung open my back door, eager to get a few shots in before the thing moved along. As I crept up, I saw the iconic black tail with a white stripe down the center. It was a skunk! I was beyond ecstatic, not very many photographers were brave enough to try and capture photographs of skunks, but they were beautiful animals and I couldn’t wait to snag a pic.
I slowly edged my way forward so as not to scare the skunk away. I brought my camera to my face and began to snap away, still edging ever so slowly towards the skunk. Unfortunately, now that my focus was on the camera and not on the ground, I made the fatal mistake of stepping on a stick. *SNAP* The skunk whirled its butt towards me, and before I knew it, Pepe la Pew’s cousin had doused me with foul smelling liquid. I stank for weeks after the encounter, lucky for me, I got the shot.