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February 15, 2010

Ms. Takes: It’s just hard to love a snake

By Liz Ciancone The Tribune Star Mon Feb 15, 2010, 05:09 PM EST

TERRE HAUTE — I expect to share the earth with God’s creatures. That doesn’t mean I have to like them all, and I draw the line at snakes.

I was, however, determined not to pass on my “irrational” fears to my sons. I think I oversold.

When Number One son first toddled out to the sandbox and let out a shriek, I rushed to the rescue to discover that he was frightened by a couple of box elder bugs sunning themselves in HIS territory. I picked one up, let it crawl over my hand and talked soothingly about the nice red and black colors and how harmless they were. After that I don’t think he feared any living creature.

He must have been napping the day I won the Illinois State Laundry Toss when I left the house with a basket full of wet laundry and, only at the last minute, spotted a garden snake sunning on the bottom step leading to the back yard. Pity he wasn’t there to pick it up, let it crawl over HIS hand and talk soothingly about the yellow and black stripes and how harmless garden snakes are.

But, we have had goldfish, chameleons, a rooster (which he hatched in a home-made incubator) and a couple of praying mantis. In fact, “Mickey Mantis” went with us on vacation. Number One secured a jar full of live crickets and Mickey munched away as we tooled down the highway. Fortunately, Mickey is a generic name because she laid a nest of eggs behind the dining room drapes. Much to Number One’s disappointment, they didn’t hatch.

And, yes, we have had snakes.

He picked one up on a walk along the Mississippi River when we visited my Aunt Ethel. Auntie did about the same thing I had done with the bugs. She plugged up her bathtub and put the snake in there while we went out to lunch and the tub was too steep and too slick for the snake to climb out.

Of course, Number One wanted to bring it home, so Auntie punched holes in the lid of a coffee can and I got to spend the night with a snake who slept in the can in the shower of the motel. I did without a shower.

Or, there was the snake he picked up in his grandmother’s garden. He failed to mention it and it got loose in the car. We didn’t find it until we were just south of Rockville and I ordered him and his slithery pal out! Number Two said, “He’s really mad, Mom!” and I replied, “Not half as mad as I am.”

Maybe snakes are no worse than box elder bugs, but don’t try to convince me.



Liz Ciancone is a retired

Tribune-Star reporter. Her column has appeared on this page for more than 20 years. Send e-mail to opinion@tribstar.com.

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Liz Ciancone

• LIZ CIANCONE: A little bit of cursive comes in handy

  Good grief. What next?
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  January 17, 2012  

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  January 10, 2012  

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  December 27, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Let gifts to lawmakers help cut the deficit

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  December 20, 2011  

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  December 13, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: How much 'twinkle' do we need for holidays?

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  December 6, 2011  

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  I understand the Indiana Legislature intends to work to produce a “right to work” bill this coming session.
   

  November 29, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Holidays bring on baking duties

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  November 22, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Keeping track of a tattered underworld

  Mom always told me to be sure I never left the house with torn or dirty underwear. She usually added a warning about being hit by a truck or a bus, or some other catastrophe befalling, so that I’d be carted off to the hospital where my tattered underwear would become a matter of public record and private shame.
   

  November 15, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: So far, this is a poor excuse for debate

  I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen enough “debates” to last the rest of my natural life.
   

  November 8, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Sounds of silence are now hard to find

  Is there anyplace left where there is no noise — other than the comforting noises of nature?
   

  October 25, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Grueling trips, but we were together

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  October 18, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Lure of the stage gets in your veins

  When I cast my memory back far enough, it seems as if I have always been stage struck.
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  October 11, 2011 1 Photo  

• MS. TAKES: They’re gone, but their music is not forgotten

  Dad believed that if it wasn’t composed by John Philip Sousa or Victor Herbert, it simply wasn’t music. Imagine his reaction to Woody Herman or — gasp — Stan Kenton!
   

  October 4, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Uncle Ed’s mule Maud was faithful work mate

  I like horses. Really! I do. I like them best seen from the windows of a car as they graze in a lovely spring pasture. I even like them on television as they do a parade lap before the start of a major race. But I draw the line at a second experience on the back of a horse.
   

  September 27, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Rules would be fine, if they made more sense

  I was pleased to read that the Department of Homeland Security plans to ease up on airport checkpoints. Not for the likes of you and me, but there will be no more “pat downs” of small children. Wee ones won’t even have to take off their shoes.
   

  September 20, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: 2 women’s strength of character unforgettable

  Remember the old “Readers’ Digest” feature: “The Most Unforgettable Character I Ever Met?”

  September 13, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Memories of 9/11: Hairpin vapor trails

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  September 6, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Today’s girls have more opportunity than ever

  I confess. I had a bit of a battle with the green-eyed monster the other morning. The newspaper had pictures of high school girls playing soccer with a team from another school, and with obvious joy and pleasure.
   

  August 30, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Lesson 1: School is not a drag

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  August 23, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Charter schools won’t solve all of education’s problems

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  August 16, 2011  

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  I was asked the other day if I still used a typewriter.
   

  August 9, 2011 1 Photo  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Missing the wishing inside the catalogs

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  August 2, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Achoo! Summer cold is something to sneeze at!

  Of all the miseries visited upon mankind, I think that the summer cold wins the door prize!
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  July 26, 2011  

• LIZ CIANCONE: Haven’t we seen you somewhere before?

  I’ve heard it said that everyone has a doppleganger — a look-alike — and if that’s true, I suppose that somewhere in the world is a person who looks enough like me to be mistaken for me. Maybe it would take a dim light, or a vivid imagination, but for what it’s worth …

  July 20, 2011 1 Photo  

• More Liz Ciancone Headlines

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