A couple of stories of interest. Tim was always extremely observant, and I loved this about him. One day he came into the house, very excited, "Mom!" he said, "Come quickly and see this thing, it is amazing!" I followed him out into the yard and he pointed, "Look, Mom, isn't that interesting?" I looked down and saw a very small wasp dragging a huge hairy spider, on its back with its feet in the air. It was slow going for the wasp, but she persevered until she at last come to a hole in the ground. It laboriously dragged it right down into the hole. I found out later that this was part of the life cycle of these wasps. They sting the spider enough to put it into suspended animation, then they lay their eggs in the spiders body. When the eggs hatch into little grubs they feed on the spider's flesh until they become pupas, and then they emerge as new wasps — isn't nature amazing. What a great God we serve!
On another occasion I opened the front door (Debbie was the only child at home) and there, on the front step was a very young cobra. "Debbie, run and call Oupa, quickly and tell him we have a snake on the front step. Go out the kitchen door." Deb tore next door and my Dad came with his .22 Rifle. When he saw the snake he said, with amusement, "Is this the BIG snake?" He turned the rifle butt down and squashed the poor thing to death. However, you need to remember that even newborn cobras are extremely venomous, so it did need to be killed. Deb was still just a little kid, so her description can be excused.
On another occasion I saw, out of the living room window, a fairly large cobra crossing the yard onto the lawn. As I watched it suddenly disappeared in the grass, and I was never able to find the hole down which it must have gone. I never saw it again.
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Mom, you have lots of snake stories to share. Ugh! Remember the time Eliott killed a snake and we hung it on the line. Tim, The Wellensky kids and I pulled the fangs out and were toting them about proudly on a finger...until we showed you and you panicked and told us to go to the tap, turn on the water and let the fang be washed away. It was a venomous snake although I cannot remember what kind. It was big and we were amazed at how it moved for a long time after it was dead. Poor Eliott, I think it took years off his life.
ReplyDeleteAnd, then there was the time you met up with a spitting cobra....a story that still makes me cringe and jump when I think of it.