I'm re-reading Jan Morris's book about Sydney.
She talks about seeing the Sydney fruit bats. It got me thinking about how people see them in different ways. I love bats. They're one of my favorite parts about Sydney. I love seeing them in the trees at the Royal Botanical Garden. I love seeing them fly in the night sky. Tim seems to like them too, and spent a lot of time trying to capture a photo of one.
I told my parents many times to go to the Royal Botanical Gardens, and I made sure to remind them NOT to miss the bats. My dad sent his photos of their time there, and his attitude towards them was far from loving. It seems he was quite disturbed and disgusted by them.
Tim's impressive bat photo.
My dad's photo which he labeled as These bats were awful!!!Jack has a nature book that we used to love looking at. It's called Animals Nobody Loves. Included are the various animals that strike fear in the hearts of some. It's interesting to me that some of us fear certain animals, while others of us are fine with them and fear other creatures.
Now my feeling is that a realistic fear of a threat doesn't count. Most people should be terrified if they're swimming at the beach and a shark swims over. We should all be terrified if a wasp lands on our hand or a funnel web spider crawls across our shoes. We should worry if a snake crawls into the bathroom with us....unless we're an expert and know it's not venomous.
What I'm talking about here is having a dislike of an animal when they're not an immediate threat. Which animals make your skin crawl by just looking or thinking about them?
The top ones on my list are:
1. Wasps
2. Bears
3. crocodiles
4. large whales
Wasps are so ugly to me. I think they look like snobby, anorexic ballerinas. They're graceful, but in a really bitchy way.
I used to be fine with bears. I'm not sure what happened there. I think I'm okay if they're crawling on all fours, and they're at the zoo. But I don't like the thought of them standing on their hind legs. And just the idea of running into a wild one, makes me want to avoid certain areas of the United States.
I enjoy seeing crocodiles in the zoo, but they scare me enough to be weary of ever traveling to way up north Australia.
I know most people love whales, and I do understand they're majestic creatures. But the thought of running into one of them, while on a small boat in the ocean, gives me a bit of a chill. At the same time though, there is a small part of me that wants to see one someday. Maybe.
I'm fine with rats. I love snakes. I love sharks. I have a ton of respect for vultures. I love most insects, reptiles, and amphibians.
I used to be creeped out by spiders, but now am fine with them if they're not the dangerous types. I am weary of walking under their web. There's that sense they might jump into my hair. I don't like that.
I used to really hate Daddy Long Legs. In Hawaii, we had one crawling around the bathroom. It didn't bother me one bit. It was a small one though. Maybe a large one would have disturbed me.
There's a spider in our bathroom at home....inches away from my leg as I pee. I consider him my friend. Today, I serenaded him while I was on the toilet. That's another thing. For some reason lately, I seem to like singing while doing my toilet business. Not sure what the deal is with that. At least I haven't started doing it in public toilets.
So how about you guys....
Which animals give you the creeps?
And, which of the traditionally creepy animals are you okay with?
Also, are you like Tim and me....loving the bats? Or do you agree with my dad about them being awful?
She talks about seeing the Sydney fruit bats. It got me thinking about how people see them in different ways. I love bats. They're one of my favorite parts about Sydney. I love seeing them in the trees at the Royal Botanical Garden. I love seeing them fly in the night sky. Tim seems to like them too, and spent a lot of time trying to capture a photo of one.
I told my parents many times to go to the Royal Botanical Gardens, and I made sure to remind them NOT to miss the bats. My dad sent his photos of their time there, and his attitude towards them was far from loving. It seems he was quite disturbed and disgusted by them.
Tim's impressive bat photo.
My dad's photo which he labeled as These bats were awful!!!Jack has a nature book that we used to love looking at. It's called Animals Nobody Loves. Included are the various animals that strike fear in the hearts of some. It's interesting to me that some of us fear certain animals, while others of us are fine with them and fear other creatures.
Now my feeling is that a realistic fear of a threat doesn't count. Most people should be terrified if they're swimming at the beach and a shark swims over. We should all be terrified if a wasp lands on our hand or a funnel web spider crawls across our shoes. We should worry if a snake crawls into the bathroom with us....unless we're an expert and know it's not venomous.
What I'm talking about here is having a dislike of an animal when they're not an immediate threat. Which animals make your skin crawl by just looking or thinking about them?
The top ones on my list are:
1. Wasps
2. Bears
3. crocodiles
4. large whales
Wasps are so ugly to me. I think they look like snobby, anorexic ballerinas. They're graceful, but in a really bitchy way.
I used to be fine with bears. I'm not sure what happened there. I think I'm okay if they're crawling on all fours, and they're at the zoo. But I don't like the thought of them standing on their hind legs. And just the idea of running into a wild one, makes me want to avoid certain areas of the United States.
I enjoy seeing crocodiles in the zoo, but they scare me enough to be weary of ever traveling to way up north Australia.
I know most people love whales, and I do understand they're majestic creatures. But the thought of running into one of them, while on a small boat in the ocean, gives me a bit of a chill. At the same time though, there is a small part of me that wants to see one someday. Maybe.
I'm fine with rats. I love snakes. I love sharks. I have a ton of respect for vultures. I love most insects, reptiles, and amphibians.
I used to be creeped out by spiders, but now am fine with them if they're not the dangerous types. I am weary of walking under their web. There's that sense they might jump into my hair. I don't like that.
I used to really hate Daddy Long Legs. In Hawaii, we had one crawling around the bathroom. It didn't bother me one bit. It was a small one though. Maybe a large one would have disturbed me.
There's a spider in our bathroom at home....inches away from my leg as I pee. I consider him my friend. Today, I serenaded him while I was on the toilet. That's another thing. For some reason lately, I seem to like singing while doing my toilet business. Not sure what the deal is with that. At least I haven't started doing it in public toilets.
So how about you guys....
Which animals give you the creeps?
And, which of the traditionally creepy animals are you okay with?
Also, are you like Tim and me....loving the bats? Or do you agree with my dad about them being awful?
I think your fear of bears started after seeing the movie, "The Edge"! Also, any large quantity of anything creeps me out...even kittens...
ReplyDeleteTim,
ReplyDeleteOh yeah. I remember you having that large quantity issue!
lol about the quantity issue Tim!
ReplyDeleteI can totally picture you serenading your pet spider as you have such a gorgeous singing voice. He/she would have loved it :-)
My number one is spiders.
After that, I'm not fussed on wasps either
Tracey,
ReplyDeleteThanks about the singing! I hope the spider is enjoying it. He hasn't hid yet, so maybe that's a good sign.
I get so confused about the "not fussed" thing. I would take it as you LIKE wasps, except the either bit makes me think you don't like them.
What were we talking about in Hawaii when you said that???
I've been trying to find love in my heart for wasps. It hasn't happened yet.
I'm not really partial to bats. No, they are a bit creepy. though they do have sweet little faces if you see them up close. Where I lived in Hervey Bay Qld, there is a colony of them.Its quite famous I think, in batty circles.
ReplyDeleteThere are thousand upon thousands of them and the sky goes dark every evening.... before the sun goes down, for about 1o minutes as they fly over to roost in the special trees they roost in ,of which I can't remember the name .
They smell,weird, well ,I'm not sure they personally do,but their guano does..it also takes the paint of your car, i can attest to this, it sets like cement and the paint comes off with the guano.
btw i think seranding spiders while upon the loo is quite sweet lol
I hate snakes and sharks.
ReplyDeleteBats don't bother me much. Wasps are annoying, but avoidable.
I don't like March flies (also known as sand flies) because they detract from your enjoyment of the beach and rivers in southern Australia (from February to April).
Iwasntbloggedyesterday: Yeah the paint off your car issue would be annoying. We have problems with birds here. There are lots and lots of them at certain times. They poop on the car. Not good.
ReplyDeleteMichael: Yeah. I've heard about the flies. I think they'd get to be annoying.
Not fusssed...meaning I don't really like them or in another context, I don't mind either way.. :-) I can't remember what we were talking about when that came up!
ReplyDeleteps..I had a bat in my house once! It was great. I was very concerned about how I was going to get it out successfully. They freak me out a little in large quantities. We had LOTS of them in Weipa.
Tracey,
ReplyDeleteI'd probably be a little nervous about a bat in our house because of rabies. But you guys don't have that...do you?
Maybe that's why I'm a little scared of all wild mammals in general. One night I heard noises on our upstairs porch. I looked out, and there was a raccoon. He was at our door, like he was trying to get in. On one hand, I thought it was very cool. On the other hand, I was a bit freaked out because of the rabies thing.
I'm probably over-paranoid though!