Yeah, I guess I'm just a wimp. Hey, Rich-- have you ever been, or seen someone who was bit by a rattler? I think everyone has their phobia(s). Mine are venomous snakes and heights. Like Lloyd said, I'd rather face off against two guys in a bar fight than be near a rattler.
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My other great fear is heights, which obviously doesn't bother Lloyd at all, since he was a lineman.
There was a family named Leibenberg. If that's not the exact spelling I apologize to them, but it's close. Back in the '70s they had an act that involved rattlesnakes, and appeared on TV variety shows, etc. They had lots of goofy features like a big rattler that pulled a little covered wagon, etc. The patriarch of the family was a tree topper by trade, and he related as how once when high, high up in a tree God spoke to him and told him that he didn't need to be afraid of snakes. Anyway, in the middle and late '70s I was a Jr. partner in a LGS, and the Leibenbergs used to visit occasionally as they liked guns. The father Leibenberg once invited George, the shop owner, out to the driveway to see what he had in the back of his van. It was crawling with rattlers, and George ordered him off the property and warned him never to return with any of his snakes or he'd immediately start shooting. One day the oldest son came into the shop with his hand wrapped in bandages. "What happened to you?" "Well, I was feeding mice to my snakes and one of them tagged me on the hand. It was all my fault, I should have just tossed the mouse, but instead held it out to him." As he related the story he unwrapped the bandages, and the hand looked horrible-- half bright red and half black. "People are so afraid of snakes, but I'm going to show everyone that it's not so bad. I'm not treating the bite, just letting nature take it's course. I'll live-- you'll see." He was back a couple of days later and his hand had swollen to the size of a football and was all black with yellow streaks in it. Next visit it has split open kind of like the dry mud in the bottom of a seasonal pond with big cracks that were leaking fluid. Eventually, perhaps 6 months, the hand was back to normal size and looked pretty normal, but was partially paralyzed, and as far as I know he never regained full use of it. It was an 18 inch rattler.
Well, then, you have such unpleasant serpents as spitting cobras.
Sorry if I've disappointed you or earned your scorn, but I didn't reach almost age 80 by being careless.
I've been cussed at, fought at, shot at, and I'm still here-- and still hate snakes.
DG