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["SISU!" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Gene GeRue wrote:

> You are doing the right thing, I think. Become highly knowledgeable 
> about snakes and you will lose your fear of them.

Gene, I consider myself highly knowledgeable about snakes, too.  I can
identify most poisonous and non-poisonous snakes within a second or two
of seeing it.  In fact, I got ticked at Ron because after the rattler
moved away and went under the pig ramp before we killed it, he shined
the flashlight  under the ramp and declared, "That's not a
rattlesnake"...to which I went off on a tirade like "Don't tell me what
is and is not a *&^%&*^$% rattlesnake!  I clearly saw it-the whole
$%^%&%$$ snake, and it IS a #$%^%$#$ timber rattler!  LOL... It pissed
me off that he questioned my snake identification skills-something I
have worked long and hard on.  It was only after it was dead and we drug
it out from under the ramp that he said, "well, I guess you were right"  LOL
Generally speaking, I have never really been that afraid of snakes
throughout most of my life.  I have plenty of pictures of myself holding
snakes, rescuing snakes, etc.  HOWEVER, it only takes one near miss
with a poisonous one to make you afraid...at least for me.  I started
developing a fear a few years ago after almost stepping on a copperhead
in the barn, and now, since this latest mishap, I have been traumatized
to the point that I might actually go to see a shrink.  I don't want to
be obsessed like this for the rest of my life, but I am definitely
suffering PTSD with flashbacks, dreams, obsessive thoughts, etc. and I
am packing anytime I am outside now.  I hate being so afraid.  It's
starting to affect what I do and how I do it.  I need my Yosemite
Bev/Viking persona to kick in, but right now, it is lost to me..lol

Bev
--
erthnsky AT bellsouth.net  BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm      NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W