Don't want to sound paranoid but I think my trump* loving cousin tried to get me killed.

[Siwsan]

We were in Maryland for a family reunion and were visiting with her at the family home, perched on a mountain side in Mount Savage. (I succeeded in not saying anything about the framed, autographed photo of trump* that was hanging on the living room wall.) My brother and I wanted to walk around the property so she suggested we take the path down to a nice stream. We followed the path down a hillside into a wooded area - absolutely beautiful with lots of ferns and forest plants. We were digging around the rocks, picking up lumps of coal that had pushed to the surface (our great grandfather and grandfather were coal miners in Maryland). We finally got to the stream, and spent quite a while just exploring.

When we got back to the house she informed us she never goes back there because of the rattle and copper head snakes!?!?!?!? That's the kind of thing she should have mentioned BEFORE sending us on that trek. There I was, watching for deer, and listening for the outside chance of bears crashing through the underbrush. I was paying NO attention to what might be hiding in the brush or behind the rocks!

I'm thinking it might be a good idea to skip next year's reunion.

[dawg day]

1. She owned a lib!

She's so happy now.

These people are weird-- sado-masochists, really. Sadistic to everyone else, and total masochists for Trump.

[malaise]

4. Send them a nice card and

tell them they are much more dangerous to their own than any snake

[LiberalFighter]

24. Don't you mean one of those cards

that snaps when it opens?

[malaise]

25. Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Good one

[ornotna]

32. A nice card

https://www.lovepopcards.com/products/snake-3d-pop-up-birthday-card

[malaise]

36. Too good

[hlthe2b]

2. Nah, just carry a big...

AXE!



(good for snakes and.... )

[Dennis Donovan]

3. Send her a gold, scorpion necklace...

...with a live scorpion attached.

[3catwoman3]

5. Definitely send your regrets.

That's awful.

[Bayard]

6. Sounds like

Your cousin is more dangerous than any snakes.

[llmart]

7. I'd skip next year's reunion just for the fact of having trump's picture on the wall.

Ugh. I'm not sure I could have stomached that.

[smirkymonkey]

15. Yeah, that right there is pretty fucked up.

[NutmegYankee]

8. Both snakes are very uncommon and typically flee from human encounters

Copperheads are not deadly to an adult, and while more common, they rarely attack. The rattlesnake is far more dangerous, but very rarely encountered as they tend to be high up on ledges. Most people bitten were trying to handle them or stepped on them. You were probably in no danger, conservatives have an overactive sense of fear.

I hike every weekend and encounter a poisonous snake at most once a season.

[Siwsan]

9. Regardless, a 'heads up' would have been nice since they've seen both around the house

To me, it was completely thoughtless.

[NutmegYankee]

10. I find "thoughtless" to be an accurate description of most Trump supporters.

[Siwsan]

11. I totally agree

Since we both came back unscathed, there really was no rational reason for her to say anything. Oh well. Live and learn.

[phylny]

22. We have occasional copperheads on our property here in Virginia.

We're lakefront and I always tell guests to "look down and around" when they are walking, even on our stone walkway.

[obamanut2012]

18. Copperheads are absolutely deadly to an adult, and do not "rarely attack"

I say that as someone who almost died from a bite from one, and who learned an awful lot about them from experts during my hospitalization.

And, as a trail runner for many, many years, long before it became a thing, I've seen pit vipers quite regularly.

[Yeehah]

21. Sorry you got bit,

but the fact is fatalities from copperhead bites are EXTREMELY rare.

An estimated 2,920 people are bitten by copperheads (Ancistrodon contortrix) annually in the United States. The incidence of bites by these venomous snakes is 16.4 per million population per year. However, the case-fatality rate is exceedingly low, about 0.01%.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/335424

As someone who has spent his entire life in the woods, I have found copperheads to be quite timid.

[NutmegYankee]

23. Very few die from copperheads, and those that do are from an allergic reaction, not the venom.

The vast majority of adults bitten are just in for a world of hurt. Look up the numbers.

I know the pain and illness are far greater than a bee sting, but just as most are in no mortal danger from a bee sting, most are not from a copperhead. But if someone is allergic, all bets are off.

[alphafemale]

30. I think it is probably possible to get a dangerous infection from any snake.

They don't eat the cleanest of animals.

But again, snakes we have on this continent are not aggressive.

[NutmegYankee]

34. You have to get a tetanus shot.

I also had the misfortune of being bitten. I just don't like to discuss it as I was definitely to blame when I was 14. Key takeaway - don't pick up the snakes.

[Laffy Kat]

35. I'm from TN and stepped on a copperhead when I was a kid.

We were playing in a pile of leaves. It wrapped around my ankle but never bit me. They are truly beautiful snakes.

[alphafemale]

12. It was unkind of her to mess with you like that.

But any walk in the woods, in most areas, is going to have the possibility of a snake encounter.

But s others have mentioned it is rare for someone to be bitten unless they are being stupid.

I'd be more concerned about ticks which will bite and to bite and carry disease.

The trump portrait is a bit much.

Bet they serve crappy food too, am I wrong?

[Siwsan]

13. I absolutely did a 'tick check'.

The reunion was at a road side restaurant with, by my standards, so-so food.

The only reason I even go to this reunion is I have an older cousin who, unlike me, grew up knowing this branch of the family. She has MULTIPLE health issues and physical limitations, and she wouldn't be able to attend if I didn't travel with her. Too bad for her, though, because I've done this for 2 straight years and, as of now, I am not feeling up to a repeat journey. It is all just too exhausting, both physically (looking after her) and emotionally (dealing with the trumpsters).

[Totally Tunsie]

14. The biggest snake is hanging on your cousin's wall. n/t

[smirkymonkey]

16. Heh, heh!

Good one, Tunsie!

[Siwsan]

17. You are 100% correct

[Niagara]

19. Boom!

[Niagara]

20. This is one of the many reasons that

I avoid anyone who belongs to the MAGAt cult.

Life it too short to deal with type of nonsense.

I hope that next year you avoid the reunion and visit a place where you're not treated like that.

[dem4decades]

26. Tell her you're well aware of snakes in the wild, it's the ones in the White House

That bother you

[jberryhill]

28. You notice all those headlines about people dying from hikes in Maryland?

Copperhead and rattlesnakes (rare) are native to a huge swath of the US, from the lower mid-Atlantic and south.

If you saw one, you’d be lucky to have seen such a remarkable animal.

[Croney]

29. You could hang three portraits on your wall, send her a photo of them,

and cordially invite her to a reunion at your house, where guests could admire the portraits of Presidents Obama, Clinton, and Clinton.

She'd never show. Intolerance and bigotry like to stay home and wallow in their mud pit.

[Maru Kitteh]

31. Just an FYI, bears are pretty much silent. You'll likely never know if one is close to you

Until you are looking into each other's eyes. And then, unless it's a mama with cubs, it's most likely to run away from you.

But yeah. Bears. They're like fat, fuzzy ninjas man. True story.

[Takket]

33. "framed, autographed photo of trump"

that was your first warning sign lol

maybe instead of going to the reunion, you should offer to host it. commission a painting of Hillary dressed in Jesus-like robes hugging AOC with one arm and George Soros with the other, hang that from your wall.