FORT Koffee Klatch

[MRD]

Gut,
I hate driving in bad weather and what we get is a piece of cake compared to what you get, so I don't blame you at all.
And you and everyone else is right, he hasn't exactly showed much of wanting to be family either. But then again, I'm a softy and I"d feel like I had to go if he asked me. Thus my earlier post about being conflicted. But when I sat down and really thought about it, then I thought, he hasn't exactly endeared himself to you at all, so why bother.

Your Valentines sound really cool and a lot of fun to do.

Snakes don't bother me. I don't seek them out, but I don't mind them. I have a friend who's husband has snakes as pets. The first time I was at their house, I think he thought he'd freak me out by bringing one out of the cage. I just calmly kept talking to my friend and in mid-sentence with her, reached out and touched the snake on the top of the head. Since I didn't freak and didn't appear to be scared, he put it back in the cage and doesn't try that with me anymore. Part of that was him trying to be an ass and me not lettting it get to me, but part of it is that they just don't bother me. Now frogs? That I will run screaming like a little girl about. Seriously, hate those jumpy, slimy things.

[angelic_one2002]

Snakes are awful , but they aren't even as bad to me as SPIDERS! They absolutely scare the crap out of me.

[CCL]

Thanks Newf. We can't pick and choose our phobias. I don't make my daughter help with laundry because there are snakes in the basement - her phobia (I love them).

Snakes! I'm assuming you're not talking about pet snakes...even then...
Your valentine cards sound really nice, Gutmutter.

[Newfherder]

I generally don't mind snakes, but last summer I had a couple of big, aggressive snakes (bullheads?) hanging around. They would not back down from me or the dogs, and that is unacceptable. If I see those SOBs this summer, I WILL pop their heads off with the pellet gun. All peaceful snakes are still welcome.

[Gutmutter]

I had a garden snake this summer that hung out under my garden hose faucett. I named him Ralph. I invited my daughter to come out and have tea with me in the garden and she asked if there were snakes. I said, "Just Ralph". She got mad at me for naming him. Go figure. I don't like the sound of those aggressive snakes, Newf. When there are baby snakes in the basement and I try to scoot them over so I don't step on them while I load the drier, they rile up and hiss and I crack up every time. They're about the size of a pencil at that age. The bigger ones I speak to as if they can understand me. What does that make me, a Parseltongue? I've had two friends with rattlesnakes in their basements, so I count my blessings.

gabriel!!! I saw the Dean Martin videos advertised today! Regis was pushing them!!! Woo hoo! I have the number.

[prhoshay]

Makes you a nut!

[ArchieComic Fan]

So, gut, I take it that the snakes in your basement aren't poisonous? I don't freak out from them but like myrosie said, I don't seek them out. My phobia used to be spiders but now if there's one in the house, I try to relocate it outdoors using paper or something else it can hitch a ride on. I was a bug stomper at one time, no matter what kind it was. Now I try to be more environmentally friendly and keep my killing to roaches or fire ants. If a bug just won't let me catch it, and it's in the house (MY domain), then it might wind up dead. But that's a last resort. I figure when I'm outside, I'm in their home and don't kill them unless they are pesky mosquitoes or gnats or some other biting insect. But when they are in my home, then they might stand a chance to see another day. It just depends how cooperative they are .

Now if I found a snake in my house, I'd more than likely leave the capturing to my husband. If he wasn't home, then I'd have to find a way to get it out because otherwise I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing it was there slithering around, even if it wasn't poisonous. But back to spiders, I use to have a real fear of them but overtime I'm doing much better. If I know for a fact it's poisonous then I'd kill it. But the only thing I know how to recognize is black widows so I might actually be saving some poisonous ones and not know it!

And like you gut, I don't like to drive in bad weather of any kind. We don't get snow but we get some real downpours now and then, and along with that our streets flood pretty easily. So if it's raining hard enough to have the wipers on full speed, I try not to go out in it if I can at all help it.

[Gutmutter]

The original half of the basement is dirt floor with rock wall foundation. There are always going to be snakes. Most older homes here are built that way.

[prhoshay]

Have we heard anything from SuperBrat lately? Just wondering how our little art teacher is doing with the middle schoolers. If we haven't heard from her, they just may have her tied up somewhere!

[dagwood]

The original half of the basement is dirt floor with rock wall foundation. There are always going to be snakes. Most older homes here are built that way.

My grandma's house was like that only her pest problem was mice.