Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

When we lived in CO, I would keep my "mud" shoes in the grage by the door into the house. I sure shook those things out before I put them on. Even with the shoes in the house if I hadn't worn a pair for awhile I sure shook them out. I found one in my ski boots at the start of the season one year. Widows sure love to craw into shoes it seems.

I was walking through the woods one time after dark - was at a neighbors BS'ing and it got dark so Kathy said it's shorter if we go through the woods. At one point, I felt a sharp pain in my leg - about half way between the foot and knee a little outside of the shin bone. I got home and didn't see anything and put some ice on it. I was a little sick the next day and was feeling okay the next but decided to call my MD. His comments were about the same. "Did you see what it was?" No. "Did you get sick?" Yes. "Feel better now?" Yes. "Is it swollen?" Not much. "Is it running?" No.  "Well the worst is over, good bye." I have no idea what it was, a spider, a scorpin, maybe even a pigmy rattler.

But whatever it was the hide in that area turned to fibrous tissue.

Truman

Nick Warhol wrote:

Okay, you guys are bringing up bad memories.  Fifteen years ago I was building a deck in my back yard in Hayward, Ca, while Judy was in England for a semester of college.  I got bitten by a Black Widow that had crawled into my shoe while I was in having lunch.  20 minutes later I got so sick I could not stand up.  I didn’t know it was the spider at the time; I was sure it was food poisoning from the frozen pizza I had just eaten.  I was lying on the ground, dizzy, throwing up, not able to stand, everything hurt.  After 10 minutes I was just about to crawl inside and call 911, when I thought it was getting better.   I lay there for an hour while the sickness went away.   I went inside and sat on the couch for the next 12 hours. 

 

It wasn’t until the next day that I went outside and picked up my shoe- out came the dead black widow.  I took off my sock and saw the bite- a big, red, swollen spot on the top of my foot.  Spider in left shoe, bite on left foot.  The mind starts working, and that’s when I got scared, and started to freak out!  I called the poison control center and shouted: “I’ve been bitten by a black widow!  I’VE BEEN BITTEN BY A BLACK WIDOW!   WHAT SHOULD I DO!  

 

The guy was so cool.  He asked, “When?”   “YESTERDAY!”    “Did you get sick?”    “YES!”    “Are you better now?”   “WELL, Yes,”  I replied.  “Good,” he said.  “You’re all done.” 

 

It turns out the nasty spider is rarely fatal, except to young children and older people, or people with specific allergies.   I never gave spiders much thought before then, and still always escort spiders out of the house in a baseball cap, but I KILL THE BLACK WIDOWS! 

 

 

Nick

 

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"The person of superior integrity does not insist upon his integrity.

  For this reason, he has integrity. The person of inferior integrity

  never loses sight of his integrity.  For this reason, he lacks integrity."