The more Jayden talks about her home in Texas, the more I am thankful to live in Iowa. Everything there is either trying to poke you, bite you, sting you, or poison you. There are so many creepy crawlies. Scorpions are prevalent and like dark places in your home. Ester sprays regularly for them. Jake and I encountered two in the lodge when we visited in May. That gave me the creeps and I always walked in sandals or shoes in the house and checked my sheets at night. Next there are swarms of fire ants! They bite with a vengeance, you swell, they itch like mad, form a white head boil, pop and scab. Jayden has had plenty of encounters with then and several ant bites. Some while feeding her horses, some if standing still too long outside, and some have come up her bathroom drain. To my absolute horror, Jayden informed me that in the building of her new home, the pest exterminators came and sprayed seeing many black widow spiders. Ok first off I am terrified of spiders, and black widow spiders can actually kill you!! They are a deadly, feared spiders and I had no idea they were in her territory. Next we have some very strange type of centipede. They grow very large in Texas and Jayden found one in Ester's dryer vent-dead. These centipedes stick their pointy legs into your skin with multiple spikes and poison you. So much fun. Next Texas is know of course for rattlesnakes. They are big and they are venomous and cause great damage. We know a boy from Iowa that was bit while hiking years ago and nearly lost his foot. He went through surgery and had to have skin grafts. Rattle snakes also have a reflex long after they die that if you pick them up even when dead, the reflex can bite and releases venom into you. Jayden assured me that there were no rattlesnakes where she keeps her horses because the owner told her donkey's go after them and kill them. They have a few donkeys. Jayden and I have walked through the pasture to see her yearlings. I remember walking and looking at the ground for snakes and trying to avoid them and large fire ant hills. Now that I know what I know, I will never again, unless I wear boots to my knees. Jayden's horse farm owner recently had a dog bit by a rattlesnake. The vet told him based on the bite wound, the snake was 4 to 5 feet long and he warned Jayden to look out for them. Are you kidding me?!! In addition to creepy crawling things, there are native plants and certain types of cactus growing on the ranch. Some varieties have shooting needles and many are poisonous I like Iowa and being able to take off my shoes and socks and run through the grass without worry. All these Texas hazards worry me thinking about Jayden living in amongst it all. I can't even look at a photo of the spider.
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