| Author |
Ticks, Chiggers, Nettles, and Ivy:  The girl who called her sting!  |
|
|
Lily
outbound
28 Posts
Lily
Moss Landing
California
USA
28 Posts |
 Posted - May 01 2007 : 10:41:26 AM
|
I’ve had all kinds of bites and stings, from hornets and wasps to no-see-ums and jelly fish. But probably my most memorable offense has been from a scorpion. The first time I was on an island in the Sea of Cortez, Isla Ventana, walking around on the cobble near the shore barefoot (should have known better, but I was only 19). I stepped on a scorpion and he stung me about 6 or 7 times on the foot. I immediately thought I was going into anaphylaxis as my chest tightened and squeezed the breath out of me, but soon realized that it was just fear that took my breath away. I was fine, with nothing more than a sore foot. I’d always thought a scorpion sting was deadly, but I learned that to a healthy adult most species were benign: nothing more than a painful warning. My foot was bruised and tender the next day, but I was hiking around the interior of the island by mid-morning – this time with my boots on. I never forgot, however, the sting of a scorpion’s venom entering my flesh so that years later when I was playing a hand of Rummy with friends on a porch in Costa Rica, I instantly knew the sharp zap I felt beneath my seat was a scorpion stinging my butt.
“Aaaiii!” I hollered, jumping out of my chair, cards flying willy-nilly, “I just got stung by a scorpion!” Everyone at the table laughed.
“Right, a scorpion,” my friend said, “It was probably a spider or a mosquito.”
I looked at him, incensed, “No – it was a scorpion. It stung my ass. I’m sure of it.” But as I shimmied in my skirt and searched the legs and bottom of my chair, no scorpion appeared and all the guys continued to laugh at my overly dramatic reaction to what in their minds amounted to a flea bite. I went into the bathroom and removed my skirt, shaking it, and then removed my blouse, bra, and underwear: Nothing. But when I twisted my spine to see the red welt that rose on my left butt cheek, I was convinced that it was a scorpion sting.
I grabbed some ice from a cooler, ignoring the jeers of my friends, and made a small ice pack with a towel that I sat on at the table, trying to recover my hand of cards. I was just about to throw down aces when I felt something tickle between my breasts and scuttle up my neck to my face. I slapped my palm across my cheek and a wriggly object dropped to the table. It was a yellowish-brown scorpion, jerking on its back, still stunned from my slap. All the guys stared at me with wide eyes and a new look of respect. From then on I was known as “the girl who called her sting.”
|
|
|
Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - May 01 2007 : 11:43:10 AM
|
That was GREAT!! You are so darn funny, Lily! You reminded me of a time in long-ago highschool when I was sitting in the passenger seat of my boyfriend's car, window down, waiting for him to come out of the dentist's office, when a wasp flew in and - I SWEAR - crawled in between the buttons of my 501 jeans. I was SURE I had a wasp in my pants, and I did what any normal person would do: I panicked! I flung open the door and started stripping down - right there in the parking lot. Despite my thorough & desperate search, though, I never found that damn wasp. Luckily, I had no sting to prove my story. My boyfriend didn't believe a word of it 
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
|
 |
|
|
lilpunkin
outthinking
3 Posts
jaime
colorado
USA
3 Posts |
Posted - May 01 2007 : 9:52:44 PM
|
Too funny! Of course not the stinging part. OUCH! I have never been stung by a scorpion but have had the chance. One night in our freshly built house in Texas, I got up in the night to go to the restroom, and before I took my next step I turned on the light and when I looked down there was a scorpion right where my foot would have went next. Whew I missed that one.
Well, now that I have given myself the jibbers, I think I will go read a topic on food or fuzzy animals, I would much rather think about that than scorpions or any other creepy crawly before bed!
Do you feel itchy?! |
|
|
|
Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
Posted - May 02 2007 : 11:54:53 AM
|
Oh My gosh! I am so glad I have never been stung by a scorpion! I am really glad to know that most of them won't kill you though! *doing the icky dance* Ugh! I hate creepie crawlies
Elizaray |
|
|
|
Joelle
outbound
11 Posts
Joelle
Aptos
CA
USA
11 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2007 : 1:46:17 PM
|
| Hey Lily! I've been stung by a scorpion too! I was working on a 250,000 acre cattle station in north Western Australia and one of my jobs was to change out tires on 3 truck trailers. We finished one night and I was maybe half way done so I dropped everything and 'knocked off' for the day. I came back to the job mid day. I picked up a tire cleat (a tent shaped piece of metal that acts as a washer for bolting the tire to the trailer) and as I was putting it on the bolt, I felt a sting! I thought it was a red back spider and pressed my hand to look at the bite, but it was a single dot. Strange... I picked up the cleat and turned it over and saw the translucent 2 inch scorpion sitting there. Oh geeze, I ran to my 'dangerous animals' of the outback pamphlet to see if I was gonna die- No, ok... Now what... my hand started to swell and pain started migrating up my arm and down the side of my torso! This little guy really packed a punch! So fellow coworkers drove me to the Aboriginal community where there was a little nurses station and they put ice on it and gave me a lot of codine... alright! Off for the rest of the day :)... I lived... yea! |
|
|
|
Lily
outbound
28 Posts
Lily
Moss Landing
California
USA
28 Posts |
Posted - May 29 2007 : 3:29:35 PM
|
| Hi Joelle! Yeah, those scorpion stings are pretty painful. The day after I got stung on my butt in Costa Rica, my lymph nodes in my groin were swollen like little golf balls -- hard and tender. Your Australia experiences sound exciting though, despite the sting! |
|
|
| |
Ticks, Chiggers, Nettles, and Ivy: The girl who called her sting! |
|
|
|
The girl who called her sting!
