Attack of the Scorpion King!

The other night while getting ready for bed I received the shock of my life!  All of a sudden I was wracked with intense searing pain!  Everywhere I felt the intense pain  there suddenly appeared a huge red welt. Soon there were 5 on my stomach and one on my wrist.  The pain was so intense I was near fainting and yet I couldn't see what was attacking me. Jim was trying to calm me while trying to figure it all out when I happened to look up in the mirror and there slowly making it's way across my neck was the biggest of the Florida Scorpions, the Bark Scorpion!  Well you can imagine the shrieking that when on with that discovery!  I knocked it on the floor and he was killed and given a "burial at sea".  The pain was still intense but after using Witch Hazel it quickly dissipated. All of the Florida Scorpions are not poisonous but I can tell you first hand their stings hurt like hell!! How he got on me I have no idea. He must have climbed on my shirt when I was outside and then got stuck inside it where he repeatedly stung me. In my panic I didn't get a photo of the little demon but here is a reasonable facsimile.

While living here in a Florida I have been stung or bitten by nearly every bug there is: bees, hornets, wasps, yellow jackets, fire ants and even a spider. Thankfully it wasn't a Brown Recluse Spider!  My brother-in-law Steve was bitten by one of those and it sent him to the hospital for over a week. Steve is by no means a sickly frail guy so these small innocent looking spiders are to be taken SERIOUSLY!  They have the same type of venom as a Rattlesnake which causes skin tissue death and deformities.  The bite left untreated can result in skin grafts, massive plastic surgery or even death. For more information or pictures go to:  Brownreclusespider.org

Brown Recluse

 In salute to one of the many dangerous critters in Florida here is my poem.

                                               The Itsy Bitsy Spider-Florida Version

                                The Itsy Bitsy spider climbed up the water spout
                                 Jumped on my leg and made me scream and shout
                                 For the Itsy Bitsy spider was a Brown Recluse
                                 Off to the medics I then quickly flew
                                 While lying sick in bed for relief I did beg
                                  Thanks to the Itsy Bitsy spider
                                   I nearly lost my leg