Funny One..

I had a heating pad on my back.
I was thinking when I used it that it was getting a little warm.
It actually burned my back lol.
Jon asks didnt you feel it burning and I go..well no but I did think someone in the building was cooking chicken lol.

I threw it out and got a new one lol.

Hey janie... This could be a great way to cook a mess of those ziplock-omelets!

lol Yeah.

My back was hurting really bad and even though it felt like it was right on the edge of being to hot the heat felt good. I didnt notice the burn til after it cooled down.

Your thermostat must have broke on that heating pad, darn how wierd. I hope your back will be OK.

Im fine..just a little well done lol.

I hurt my back a month or so ago bringing a heavy computer upstairs for Jon to fix. Its getting better BUT everytime I get in the garden to get cucumbers or something it starts up again
Everytime I do it you can feel it swell back out back there.
This is the first time in about five years it has bothered me.

I NEED my veggies. Jons Dad grows them for me and gives them to me its not like Im gonna ask the man to help me pick them lol.

And even after replacing the hot water bottle 4 times - it still happened.

I give up.

(and it is not the stopper either!)

janie's heating-pad mishap could have been worse...

I had a friend who once had an iguana named "Sidney". I'm not much for reptiles, though I got semi-used to this lizard and now and then I'd get close enough to scratch him behind the ears or on his chin like one would a cat or a puppy.

Well, reptiles, being cold-blooded dessert/jungle creatures and loving the heat, Sidney had this electric "rock" that Liz would plug in like a heating pad... it would get warm- there were different settings, and the lizard LOVED the warmth it provided and was ALWAYS laying on that damned thing- looking almost dead- (but it was a "happy" dead!)

Anyway, one winter there was a blizzard and Liz was going away for the weekend so she puts out a few days worth of food and water, and since it was cold and snowy out, she adjusted the heat on Sidney's electric rock up a notch or two to make sure he didn't freeze into a lizard-popsickle while she was away.

She returned home after several days to find that lizard's normally pale-butter-colored belly was now the color of BURNED TOAST due to this lame animal digging the excessive heat that rock put out- he laid down on it and never left it! Damn thing was enjoying the helll outta being cooked to medium-rare! Sheesh! Liz took him to the vet and the doc pronounced Sidney fine and fit as a fiddle!

Im so sorry about Sidney!
We have had friends who have had the opposite. Their heating lamps fail and they loose the reptile to cold. Personally Im not a reptile fan.
THere was a guy living in the next apartment who they found after the fact had been keeping poison snakes in his apartment. He had his entire closet painted black and had his aquariums in there. This guy had been bitten by some tree vyper he had years before and almost died. They had to airlift antivenom from the nearest zoo to save him and he still collects these things.
Scared the crap out of me cause his closet was on the same wall as our bed. If one of those things had gotten loose where do you think it would have went?? Right to the pet rabbit in the next apartment and the bite size dog. Im sorry but I do not want any pet in my house that can end my life or looks at me as lunch.
A couple of years later the same guy had a cobra get loose and it got under their house. Luckily it was winter. They never found it and assumed it died in the cold. This nut lived beside of us for a year! They had a pic posted on their site of a albino cobra in the center of their livingroom loose and their three year old son over in the corner. They are nuts.
I had words with him later when he laughingly joked about feeding screaming rabbits to his snakes. I used some words on him I havent had to use since

Jeez-of-Pete, janie... I'm sorry but those kinds of folks are just too freaky! Ick! I could never have a pet that I was afraid to touch- much less one that had visions of sugar-plums dancing in its head whenever it looked at me! Yikes & YOWZA!

A friend who bar-tended at a restaurant I worked at years ago had a college-aged son living with her- he and his pet BOA. Well, one day his boa comes up MISSING, but in order not to freak his Mom totally out, he decides not to tell her! He never found his pet snake so he assumed it got out and was loose somewhere in the countryside- long gone. Well, one day weeks later there's this AWFUL stink in the basement. They search everywhere and clean like mad trying to get rid of the stench! Well, as it turns out, a contractor removed a ceiling tile down there and guess what falls to the floor? A dead and rotting coiled-up snake! Must have been sick or some such and gotten up in the ceiling to quietly die. AGGGHHH!!! Gawd almighty- makes me feel like I need a shower just thinking about it!

OK I have been a reptile spe******t for a pet store once, and worked 2 yrs. at an Animal Hosp. that specialized in exotic animals, and yep we had many reptile patients, and we had a pet iguana growing up named Lizzie and I won a blue ribbon in a pet contest for the most "unique pet". So I am ok with rep.'s but Janie your neighbor was a maniac! He deserved your harsh words and worse, it is darned crazy to keep venemous snakes in your home much less with an infant in the house. That guy was simply put, a Jack-Ass and I can see why he made you so angry!

Out in California I once saw a rattlesnake that got run over on the road directly in front of us (immediately after it was hit). The very next vehicle that came along was a van (this van was full of a whole family) and they drove right up to the freshly run over snake opened the side-sliding door yanked up the snake and threw him right into the van! I was aghast, I kept worrying about those little children and what if the snake was only stunned and gained conscienceness and attacked a child! I never understood the stupidity of some folks................

These dummies go out and catch copper heads and other poison snakes and sell them online.
ONe of them had used a catch pole that one of the snakes had struck and had a tiny bit of venom on it. He got it into a cut in his hand and was sick for days.
Atleast the "smarter" one of the two got rid of all of his when he found out his wife was pregnant. The other one..with the cobra still has those and alot more.
I saw a story once where a huge snake was in the plumbing of an apartment building. They tried to coax it out for weeks. It had been one of the residents pets. A few weeks later they smelled something bad and found it dead when they ripped out the plumbing. Residents had dumped every kind of chemical they had down their drains and toilets and killed it.
That is one reason we always keep the toilet lid down! lol.

You know I understand snakes have to eat but this guy got off on the bunny's terror. Pardon my french but he ****ed me off about as bad as I ever have been. I hate snakes.

I'm w/ u janie... I realize snakes are one of God's creatures and all, but God and me are gonna have a talk about some of his bad-calls, one of these days! Snakes totally freak me out! If I'm ever gonna be attacked by a varmint I at least want it to have fur or limbs for me to pull on! Ever try pinning a snake's arm behind it's back? Cripes!

chubbyalaskagriz said:

I'm w/ u janie... I realize snakes are one of God's creatures and all, but God and me are gonna have a talk about some of his bad-calls, one of these days! Snakes totally freak me out! If I'm ever gonna be attacked by a varmint I at least want it to have fur or limbs for me to pull on! Ever try pinning a snake's arm behind it's back? Cripes!

Click to expand...

lol.

My Mom would follow a snake for half a mile to kill it.
One time I looked out the kitchen window and she has a hoe chopping quickly at the ground. She had killed a big snake and when she did its babies came out of its mouth where it had swallowed them. She has baby copperheads going every which way. She got them all though.

I was mowing the grass once and was almost down to where Mom's clothes lines were. I saw something long and shiney on the ground and I thought she had dropped something when she hung out clothes. I got closer and saw it move. It was a huge snake. I turned off the mower went in the back door and her and Dad were at the table having coffee. I told them there was a snake under the clothes line let me know when its dead and Ill finish the grass lol. They gave each other this yeah right it gonna be itty bitty look til they stepped on the back porch and saw it. I got Dad the shotgun and he hit it from the porch. Mom finished it off with her trusty hoe lol. We never did know what kind of snake it was. It was really big and brown with yellow like spots. The head on it was really big.

I was mowing another time and saw a snake in the grass. Left mower and told Mom where it was ..once again. She comes back in a few minutes later and reads me the riot act saying it got away and now it will come back. I go oh sure the snake has a little book with addresses and marks each one happily to go back to where he wasnt killed


You should have seen me the night a possum got after Mom's chickens. Dad sends me to find out what it was. It was a hissing rather ill tempered possum who had gotten himself hung in some chicken wire. I told Dad what it was and he insists I shoot it..It will come back he says
I shoot at that thing three times...
1st time...BIG BIG hole in chicken pen.
2nd time...Another big hole in same pen.
3rd time....possum had turned to run after getting loose and I hit him right in the rear.
Needless to say the next possum had a rather large window to get the chicken of his choice lol.
I told Dad and he goes where were the chickens during all of this? I said if they were smart they were standing in front of that possum. It was the safest place to be.

If you ask me the only good snake is a dead one.

Ha! Great stories, janie! There are no snakes at all in Alaska, and here in Illinois they say we have no poisonous varieties but every now and then you hear of someone who supposedly sights one. When I was a kid we kept beagles in a big pen out back- Dad hunted rabbits using them- the pen was at the very back of our property along a fence bordering a cornfield. Every now and then they'd go crazy howling and baying and we'd run out there and Mom too would always bring her hoe because more times than not it was a big ol' corn-snake had gotten into the dog pen to drink water, eat their food and curl-up and terrorize the dogs by it's mere presence! Yuch!

Also- Mom would never allow us kids to ride in the open back of a pick-up truck (of course police frown on it too!) because she was raised in Arkansas and she suffered an incident once where she and some siblings were in back of a truck riding and as her Dad was driving the truck thru a patch of woods a snake of some sort fell from an overhead tree-branch INTO THE BACK OF THE TRUCK! Her brother- my Uncle Jan- broke his thumb pounding on the rear window of the truck to get his Dad's attention and to get him to pull over! That tale still strikes terror into me today!

Ye-gads great snake tales ya' all!

Hate snakes - and worms!

True story:

Picture this - America - 1967. Auntie and hubbie traveling down south to visit relatives. Stop on the road for lunch. Sign reads - TODAY'S SPECIAL - $1.50. Auntie asks :what's the special"; server replies "it's a sandwich with pickles on the side."

They buy 2.

It was good - tasted like chicken.

Compliments to the cook - good chicken sandwich.

Server replies - THAT WASN'T CHICKEN! IT WAS RATTLESNAKE!

You don't want to hear the rest..............


Bar-B-Q'd Rattler

~ 1 rattlesnake, cut into 2 inch steaks
~ 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
~ 1/2 cup honey
~ 1 tbsp fresh ground ginger
~ seasame seeds

In a bowl, mix together the teriyaki sauce, honey and ginger.

Pour marinade into a large ziplock bag. Add the snake steaks.

Squeeze out the air and seal. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Remove the steaks and roll in seasame seeds.

Place on hot grill. Cook over medium heat until done.

Serve and Enjoy!


Fried Rattlesnake and Ham Gravy

~ 1 24" to 30" skinned & cleaned western diamondback rattlesnake, cut in 3" to 4" pieces
~ drippings of 6 slices of bacon
~ 3/4 cup oil
~ 3/4 lb. cooked ham, diced
~ 2 cups milk
~ 1 tbs brewed coffee
~ 1/2 cup flour (1 tbs reserved)
~ biscuits or toast
~ salt and pepper
~ tabasco sauce, optional

In a cast iron skillet, fry the bacon. Remove bacon and drain on paper towels. Reserve drippings.

Add the oil to the drippings. Flour rattlesnake and fry over medium heat until golden brown.

Remove each piece as it becomes done and drain on paper towels.

Drain off the oil and drippings reserving 1 tbs. Add 1 tbs of flour. Stir and scrape bottom of the skillet to remove any browned stuck pieces.

Add the ham, coffee and milk. Stir until bubbly. If too thick add water, coffee or milk a tablespoon at a time.

Serve the rattlesnake with biscuits or toast and the ham gravy.

Salt and pepper and/or season with tabasco sauce to taste.

Serves 2 -3.

Enjoy!

Variation: Try ground sausage instead of ham.

Gawd, almighty mama!

Well, I guess this is the closest I'd actually ever come to makin' nice w/ a snake!

You guys crack me up.

I'm just the opposite. I love snakes. If anything, I'm too casual around them. But haven't gotten bitten yet, except once by, of all things, a garter snake.

That aside, Janie your neighbor was stone cold crazy. No ifs, ands, or buts. He was also breaking the law, unless---which I doubt---he had special licenses to keep those "pets."

Snakes are benefical in more ways than people think. They mostly eat vermin---rats, mice, etc. And, in your case, you really messed up. Because >It was really big and brown with yellow like spots.< was probably a black snake or a black king snake. In either case, they hate copperheads, and kill them on site. Which means if you have blacksnakes you don't have copperheads.

Ah, well. There's no accounting for peoples' biases.

I think I would PUKE!!! Golly Dawg who'd ever serve that at a restaurant???

Speaking of which, did you guys see the headlines on Sat. or Sun. where China was taking Dog off the menu list for the Olympics?!?

They damned well should, half the world find dogs to be man's best friend and lovely companions!!! Every since I read that I have been giving my "little Man" extra love and affection