Phobias

[Brigid]

Stormy,
Somehow poisoning seems more humane than having the cats catch and play with them until they die (which has happened several times around here).  Do you have a better solution?

I love animals too, but I do have my limitations. Hops, I have had pet mice and gerbils in the past, but that did not get rid of my fear.  The one time the gerbils got loose from their cage, I started to freak out and made my h at the time, catch them and then we gave them away. 

My feeling is that the little critters can live their happy lives as long as it is not in my space.

Brigid

 

[gratitude28]

Wow, I opened another can of worms. How do I always manage to do that?????

At any rate... Another little story for those with bat phobias...
I was in my attic room of an old college building reading dark poetry by Lermontov about demons and such when I caught something out of the corner of my eye. I thought it was just me... I was so tired, but when I saw it again, I turned... a bat had gotten into my room and was flying around. I called campus secrity and we trapped it and let it go. All summer the bats could be heard scratching on my walls when I lay down at night.

Also, here on Okinawa, our bats have a wongspan of up to 6 feet and cute fussy bodies like a teddy bear. I love them (also called flying foxes).

[Overcomer]

Now THAT would scare the crap out of me!!

No, please, don't crucify me for being a animal killer.  My parents even gave me crap because I wouldn't step on an ant or swat a fly - still won't.  The grill thing was a new "litter" of extremely small, newborn mice and when I peeked in they were clearly dead.  And yes, a knee jerk reaction was what it was - panic.  And the Orkin man?  I didn't call him until my nine year old would not come down out of her bunk bed because the mice were scurrying around her room.  I heard them in the night.  Almost like Willard but mice, not rats and I didn't have a pet white one.......so I can imagine how horrified it was to read that and imagine it - I lived it and it was not a fun time. 

[pennyplant]

Somebody said can of worms.  I hate those things.  I have conquered it enough that I can garden 90% of the time without getting that horrible panic attack and flinging the gloves down and going in the house for awhile.  Sometimes I garden without gloves at all!!!

But the worst thing ever happened with one of my cats.  This one used to disappear for months at a time then come home to stay again the rest of the year till she got wanderlust again.  Well, she must have been eating rodents or something while on the lam and picked up parasites one time.  She was in the kitchen one night hacking and choking.  I thought it was going to be a hairball and went over to her to wait for her to stop.  She threw up and there were these tiny white rings laying there.  What are those? I wondered.  I just stared at them a few moments until they unwound themselves and started writhing on the rug.

Oh my God, worms!!!!  I started screaming at the top of my lungs and jumping up and down uncontrollably.  Naturally the cat whooshed under the couch.  And I went after her to throw her out of the house.  It was very noisy with both of us running around the downstairs, me screaming hysterically, her scratching and scrambling.  Then I remembered the worms and had to think of a way to destroy them without touching them.  I decided to poison them and grabbed a bottle of ammonia and poured it out all over them until they stopped that horrible writhing.  Then I put a bunch of paper towels on them and waited for my husband to come home.  I sat on the couch until I stopped panting.  Eventually caught the cat and threw her outside until I could get her to the vets for de-worming.  Every time she hacked after that for months, out the door she'd go.

My worm phobia started one day when I was walking the block to school in the rain and noticed what seemed like hundreds of them all over the sidewalks in various shapes, sizes, colors, and conditions.  It was a true phobia and still is to a certain extent.  It started during those stessful grade school years when I was, I now realize, dealing with life by stifling my voice.  It seems to have tapped into my tendency toward OCD as well.  Have never wanted to de-sensitize myself formally, because, well they are so gross.  I preferred to make the accomodations.  It is better now, I think, because I'm dealing with my past.  Years ago, I wouldn't even have been able to type the word worms or tell this story.  I used to have nightmares about them too.

Also, fear of heights.  I've mentioned before, all the falls I had as a child, landing on my head, etc.  So, that one seems like a wise phobia on some level.

Pennyplant

[Portia]

Beth:

Wow, I opened another can of worms. How do I always manage to do that?????

I don't think you did! It's not your responsibility what gets said on your thread. No, really, it's not. (((((((Beth))))))


PP close your ears now:
human worms (little ones, of the intestine) aren't very nice either! Wash your fresh fruit carefully guys. Saw a tapeworm get pulled out of the back of a cat once when I was a kid. Those childhood images kinda stay with you. The cat was okay btw, if hungry. Gross i know, but these things are.

Oh! I just remembered. once I really did open a can of worms, literally. I still can't imagine how it happened, or if I magined the stuff was moving, but let's say I didn't look too closely. But how could anything survive the canning process, reproduce, and live? The smell was terrible, it was supposed to be a can of weiners or something similar. I still can't quite believe that and there wasn't anyone around to check what I saw with. <shiver> I'd forgotten that. Odd memories.

[pennyplant]

Well, there is a picture making the rounds of the internet.  It is a bag of lettuce and sitting happily in the sealed bag is a bright green frog, alive and looking right at you.  Somebody bought the lettuce and discovered the little traveler once they got home.  Imagine how he enjoyed getting washed and moving down an assembly line, bagged up, thrown into a crate and then for a long truck ride.  Maybe he was even from a different country!  What a great life for a frog  !

Pennyplant

[reallyME]

Speaking of worms and cans thereof...be sure NOT to try and ship candybars in the mail...I was once "treated" to a bar of worms and chocolate (no I sure did NOT accidentally eat it), from my Aunt in Florida...ugh!

The freakiest things i can remember happening with food though, was a large winged insect right in the middle of my cooked artichoke!  My mother had made the choke but apparently didn't wash it good enough or might have thought the insect was part of the green leaves...who knows...you would think it might swear me off artichokes for LIFE!  nope...they are one of my FAVORITE veggies, with breadcrumbs, italian dressing, oil and eggs!  YUMMY!~

~Laura

[Shewolfe]

Maybe the large dark fish tank represents the great unknown....we as humans fear the great unknown....

A fish tank represents a fish caught in glass, where those lurking outside can see inside...and the darkness represents the unknown, our fears, the fear that maybe something can snatch you up and gobble you...I know when I swam in a swimming pool late at night, it was dark and I couldnt see the bottom of the pool...and I got too scared to swim in it, knowing that nothing was there, yet fearing that something was.

[gratitude28]

Wow, Shewolfe,
You may have hit the nail on the head. As I said, my grandmother was cruel and used to talk to me about death a lot. I feared it terribly for ages (I am better with it now). Also, I have a great fear of the ocean at night (I think of doing a night-dive and get shivers). Interesting thought. I am afraid of what I can't see... part of my needing to Let Go and Let God, I know.

Major gross on the can of worms Portia. Is that possible????? Ugh, I will never be able to open a can again without thinking of that.

One year I was making devilled eggs and opened my dill to add to them and it was infested with tiny bugs. Yuck!

Also, Portia, thanks for reminding me that I am not responsible for others' thoughts. As usual, you pointed out what I needed to see.

Love to all of you,
Beth

[Hopalong]

Bleeeeahhhh!
I think if I don't stay off this thread I'll develop a phobia myself!! 

Hops

[gratitude28]

Postophobia

[moonlight52]

Scared of scary threads 

My real phobia is claustrophobia.

I do prefer to sleep under the stars .

I am not afraid of insects or spiders , mice etc.

When camping once I came too close too a rattlesnake...............

I just stayed calm and walked quietly by ,really I was in the snakes space .....you know.

Was not scared now when I think  of it maybe I should  have been.

moon

[Portia]

Beth,

What did your grandmother tell you, if you want to talk about it?

My grandmother wasn’t cruel, but she did tell me things that created strong images which stay with me now. The generational gap means that she told me things that I wouldn’t experience in my life (she came from a poor family, 11 kids to a small terraced house). I remember one thing she told me was about her mother having a ‘growth’ on the back of her hand. Her mother took my grandmother with her to the doctor where he cut this thing out. I don’t know how old my grandmother was, but as she described it, it was obvious she must have been very young, the impact it had. She described this black spidery (!) growth coming away from her mother’s hand. I’m sure she saw many things that would have amazed me.

Yah, that can of worms was very strange. I opened it up, expecting to see the pink shiny ends of frankfurters and instead this smell escaped (can’t describe it, it was gruesome) and I looked in to see this murky grey coloured chunky mess…and I’m sure it was moving!! I know it sounds incredible and this was many years ago so I doubt my memory now, but – I know it happened. I just threw the lot in the outside bin and didn’t look at it (the smell was too much too). Maybe the can had a tiny, tiny hole in it and some bacteria got in? Anyway, I’ve opened many cans since and they’ve all been okay! It must be a very rare thing.

Dill bugs: extra protein huh?! I was eating a tomato-based soup once where there were lots of mosquitoes (eating outside). Was wearing that anti-mosquito wipe chemical and the things were buzzing about, coming near my hands and falling gently in to the soup. What can you do when you’re hungry? If you can’t beat ‘em, eat ‘em!

There’s a place in mid Africa near one of the big lakes where each year when the flies hatch from the lake, they catch them in swarms inside big swirling nets (like fishing nets) and they make fly-patties – squash a load of flies together and fry in patties about an inch thick. I quite like that idea! Darn good use for flies and total protein. Yes I would, just to try them! Definitely.

Postophobia


Moon, sleeping under the Moon

I just stayed calm and walked quietly by ,really I was in the snakes space .....you know.

Was not scared now when I think  of it maybe I should  have been.

Nah! If you’d been scared the snake might have got scared too and – oh dear. But if you’re calm and you know you’re in its space…..mutual respect eh? In harmony.

[Overcomer]

Well, this is not a phobia but I pulled a slimy bag of lettuce out of my fridge when I was young, ran across the apartment, flew open the sliding glass door, threw the bag over the balcony and then proceeded to throw up off the balcony!

[adrift]

She threw up and there were these tiny white rings laying there.  What are those? I wondered.  I just stared at them a few moments until they unwound themselves and started writhing on the rug.

Oh my God, worms!!!!  I started screaming at the top of my lungs and jumping up and down uncontrollably.  Naturally the cat whooshed under the couch.  And I went after her to throw her out of the house.  It was very noisy with both of us running around the downstairs, me screaming hysterically, her scratching and scrambling.  Then I remembered the worms and had to think of a way to destroy them without touching them.  I decided to poison them and grabbed a bottle of ammonia and poured it out all over them until they stopped that horrible writhing.  Then I put a bunch of paper towels on them and waited for my husband to come home.  I sat on the couch until I stopped panting.  Eventually caught the cat and threw her outside until I could get her to the vets for de-worming.  Every time she hacked after that for months, out the door she'd go.

    THank you SO much for the laugh!!!!. I'm a visual person and saw the whole thing as you described it, too funny now, but not when it was happening I'm sure!!!

Well, there is a picture making the rounds of the internet.  It is a bag of lettuce and sitting happily in the sealed bag is a bright green frog, alive and looking right at you.  Somebody bought the lettuce and discovered the little traveler once they got home.  Imagine how he enjoyed getting washed and moving down an assembly line, bagged up, thrown into a crate and then for a long truck ride.  Maybe he was even from a different country!  What a great life for a frog   !

I love frogs, would so not mind finding on in my lettuce bag as long as I saw him before I started eating any of the lettuce!!!

 
As for phobias,  I can't do heights.  Used to climb trees all the time as a kid, and then somewhere around the age of 19 I was going hunting with a boyfriend and I got about halfway up the tree to get into the tree stand (deer hunting) and I froze.  Thought for sure my legs were gonna buckle, my heart started beating weird, I felt dizzy....I've tried and tried to overcome it since then and can't.     The only other phobia I don't have a name for, but did you see the movie "Mean Girls"???  Went to school with them and ever since I've been afraid of most other women and social situations were my looks and dress will be measured, such as weddings, church, funerals, graduations, showers.   It's a real problem for me.