Angry Snakes, Zombie Squirrels, Cow Killer and Li'l Ol' Me---

One day Tom and I explored a bike trail about three miles from our house. It was really nice, but I'm not sure I'll ever go back! As I was rolling along I noticed a stick laying on the pavement. Something about it was a little different---"Man, that's a soft looking stick," I remember thinking. Then I ran over it and noticed it's pattern. When I glanced back it was writhing and coiling and really really mad at me! Tom took this picture with his phone. We were pretty sure it was rattling its tail, but the pattern matches pictures I found of a copperhead. This was a young one, only about 10 inches long but it sure did want a piece of me! I ran over it's neck---if snakes have a neck? I don't know? Do they have a neck, or maybe they ARE a neck? They creep me out, that's for sure!

Zombie Squirrels. The rest of the world calls them gray squirrels. Cute, fluffy little things, right? That's what I always thought but Not Any More! Now I call them Zombie Squirrels. I don't really think they'll suck my brains out, but I know they'd like to. Every time I open the door and step outside this is what I hear from the treetops----aaaaaack! . . . . aaaaaack! Its these paranoid squirrels sounding the alarm that the Yankee cat lady has stepped outside to ransack the neighborhood and murder their youngsters.


Cow Killer! I rushed back to the house as fast as I could. On a Sunday afternoon stroll to the back of our property I had just seen the strangest bug ever!
"Tom! Tom!" I yelled! "Giant Ant with red fur! What the heck?!" He typed my description in a google search and there it was: The Red Velvet Wasp ~ aka Cow Killer! Turns out it's a wingless wasp. It's a solitary creature and what it does is it burrows down into ground wasp nests to lay eggs. When the larvae hatch, they eat the ground wasps--yay! But it's called a Cow Killer because of it's painful sting---strong enough to kill a cow! From what I read, it won't kill you, but you'll wish it had.

I think that sums up my wildlife encounters as a newbie here in South Carolina. The reason I've finally put them all together is that I've getting over one last bug---a virus I started out the week with on Monday turned into a horrible cough. I sound like I'll hack up a lung so I'm keeping myself at home. We're lucky enough to have Aaron here with us for Christmas, and he and Tom went to Myrtle Beach after church today. That leaves me home alone with the computer, and needing someone to talk to. I hope you don't mind my taking up your time, and I hope you will have a very good and wonder-filled Christmas this year.