gary reeder
tattle tail...i guess now that have let the cat out of the
Friday, July 17, 2020, 22:04

bag, I need to finish this sordid little tale. When I was around 12 years old we had just come back from Italy and rented a house just outside Ft.Bragg in Fayetteville. Knowing we would probably be moving again in a bit, no sense trying to buy a house. Anyway this house was nice but the backyard was the pits. My Dad told me to start picking up the rotten cardboard boxes scattered around. Most were wet and fell apart easily. As I picked one up something got me in the palm of my hand. I closed my hand when i got bit and as I opened my hand it was a big fat Black Widow. I had mashed him as he got me. I took it into the house and showed it to my dad. He took me to the dispensary on post and they gave me a couple of shots. My hand and arm were pretty much numb by the time we got there but the shots kicked in and all left was the palm of my hand swollen about twice the size.

Scan ahead about 60 years to the HHC. Standing with my back to the sink on the second floor of the log cabin telling lies I was leaning against the edge of the counter when I felt something get me on my thumb. Again I mashed it as it got me so I didn't think too much of it. By morning we were packing up to leave and the thumb was already twice it's normal size. It was Sunday so I figured nothing was open to check it out so we left heading home. We stopped along the way and I went in a pharmacy in a Walmart and asked for something for the pain and swelling. The guy behind the counter looked at it and said he was familiar with bites like that. He said it was a Brown Recluse. He said by the swelling since the bite and the color around the bite I had killed it just as he bit me or it was a young one. He said had it been a full grown spider I would lose my thumb. Anyway he gave me some stuff for the pain and the thumb. When we got home I went to my doctor and he said the same thing. Either i mashed it as it bit me or it as a young immature spider. He gave me a couple of shots and some medicine. In a couple of days it was back almost to normal
So I have this thing with spiders. Glad I didn't have a thing with rattlesnakes. It is kind of like my thing with bears but I will tell you about that some other time.