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Strange BearsI must thank all of you who have sent me photos for my crocheted and knitted bears article and questions and entry for the ABC Awards. I am trying to get back to everyone but have a major problem.........I currently only have one hand.
Due to renos underneath our house the front yard got way overgrown and out of hand......so we got someone into help. He called me out to show me several dead birds he'd found in the garden and to ask if there could possibly be snakes......which as we are quite near the bush was a possibility. Our helper was from Newfoundland and as a non-Aussie was rather cautious about all our deadly snakes and stuff.
As I walked away down 5 stairs he called out another question..... I looked over my shoulder to answer .........and stepped off into midair!! Someone had taken the bottom 3 steps away...... I tried to roll into a ball as I headed for our concrete diveway and act like I was drunk........but still landed heavily. Poor Ken (the helper) nearly had a fit and raced over expecting me to be unconcious or have a broken leg.......initially I thought I was fine........ untl I found I couldn't move my right thumb!!!
So I've done major damage to my right thumb and pointer finger.... well the bones!! I see the surgeon on Wednesday but have been told it will be between 2 to 6 months before I may be able to move either normally......depending on how I heal!!
Until Wednesday I can't move my right hand for anything........boring!!!
So if you have been waiting for me to answer emails........so sorry but I haven't been doing much ....... and fretting about what I can't do.
Major bad start to 2009........ 
And it tuned out the culprit for killing the birds was a nest of funnel web spiders (yes deadly to humans too) and poor Kenny nearly had a fit when he dug them up......one rather large one actually ran after him from one side of the garden to the other!! The next day he found a major settlement of Red Back spiders in the garden (also deadly) he killed 28 of them........ he told me he wanted to see some of native animals and stuff but this was bit over the top!! Poor guy....he then finally put on the leather gardening gloves I had suggested he should be wearing 
bearhugs
Sandra
Dolls N DreamsSo sorry to hear that, sending well wishes your way........... :hug:
Bears by EdieOh Sandra, how awful for you! I hope things go well on Wednesday and you will recover sooner than they are predicting. Sending you lots of hugs and good wishes. :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:
Back Road BearsSorry to hear about your thumb!!!! Could have done without the spider detail. They tend to give me nightmares and I was just about to go to bed!!! LOL!!
Hope you heal fast! Be good and do whatever the doctor tells you so you'll heal as quickly as possible!! 
Mylo, North DakotaYIKES! 
Hope you're recovery is quick and as painfree as possible. Geezzzz....I feel better now about living up here in COLD North Dakota...I think the deadliest insects we have are bees (and that's only if your allergic). I HATE bugs, especially spiders...and I only have to deal with the non-poisonous kind!
Best wishes for a speedy recovery! :hug:
With kindest regards, Patsy
DoodlebearsOMG Sandra you poor lady, I do hope your hand heals well for you. Try and let us know how things go after you se the surgeon on Wednesday please. As for the visitors to your garden Yikes, with a capital yike, errrrr I shuddered at the thought of them, I just hate those critters, made my body itch, daft as I am.............. Your poor gardening guy, I wouldn't have run across the garden I'd have run all the way back home and hibernated forever.
Big hugs and feel well soon, hugs Jane. :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:
PennsylvaniaKeep up with the therapy on that hand! Okay?
My wife had an injury to her hand and wrist when a large, heavy painting fell on her. It was quite painful and she didn't have use of her hand for quite a wile. The doctor sent her to an occupational therapist who gave her exercises to do. She was told to do them every day, two or more times per day.
She did and you'd hardly know she was ever injured.
On the other hand my wife has a friend who suffered a similar injury. She ignored the doctor and therapist's instructions and didn't do her exercises.
It's been several years and she still has pain and stiffness in her joints.
Keep up with your therapy and you'll be back in business in no time! 
Nikkel BearsOh Sandra - what an unfortunate way to start 2009! I hope your hand doesn't give you too much grief and that you heal really quickly.
Marg
PS: Just thinking about that many spiders freaks me out - I think I'd be horrified if I knew we had funnel webs (I KNOW we have redbacks, and the less I see of them, the better!)
Emo Bears:hug: Sorry to hear about your accident, wishing you a speedy recovery.
Eeek, that's the one time i like living in the uk; the worse you'll get is Adders (v.v. rare, especially where i live) and maybe some wasps and bees. I run from house spiders, so i'm not sure how i'd cope with genuinely dangerous ones - i'd go run and hide and never move again!!
Benson BearsBoy oh boy Sandra what a drama!!! How are you ever going to manage the magazine? Hope it all heals quickly for you. I remember those creepy crawlies from when we lived out West in Sydney, we often had Funnel Webs in the pool, they can last for days at the bottom of the pool surviving on the air trapped in the hairs on their bodies, it was a matter of scooping them out with the leaf net and then stomping on them! Let us know how you get on won't you. Hugs Linda
puca bearsHuge sympathies to you, Sandra. I was reminiscing over Xmas about the badly broken wrist I collected, Xmas morning 1999, when we were out with the dogs.............it's not only painful, but SO difficult to cope one-handed, isn't it?
And as for the spiders - yikes! I got used to red backs when I lived in Perth, many years ago - but funnel webs.......now they really ARE nasty.
I hope your poor hand heals SOON.........
huggies
Maria :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:
Jellybelly BearsYikes!! you don't do things by halves do you!!!! Get well soon! and funnel web spiders...eeeeeek!!
Sandra I am so sorry! I hope you heal up soon :hug: After hearing about all the "wonderful" fauna in your part of the world, I'm thinking that maybe Chicago isn't so bad... :crackup:
Hi Sandra, 
Oh, you poor love, what a rotten way to start the new year! I hope everything soon heals and you are back to your normal self again!
The tale of the spiders was horrible!!! I'm terrified of the beasties, and the insects etc that you have over there are the only things that have stopped me going to Australia!! I just know they will come and "get" me! Bbbbbbrrrrrrr, the whole thought makes me shiver too! 
Take care and hope you can soon give us the "thumbs up"!!! He!!
Hugs
Marilyn
Angela's Bear GardenI sure hope that your hand heals quickly. It is soo frustrating to be limited to one hand!
Those insects sound nasty! I work in a flower shop, and we get greens and flowers from Ausralia(and other warm places) often, sometimes with spiders or nests in them! Yikes! We are very careful...a couple of times they were still alive. They must be tough to survive fumigation!I'm glad we don't have many poisonous insects in Canada!
Get well soon!
Past Time BearsOh my, Sandra . . . how awful for you!! Really hope the injury isn't as bad as first thought and that you will be back sooner than predicted. :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: Are your red back spiders like our black widows? They have a red hour glass shaped spot on their underside and are poisonous. Our other dangerous spider is the brown recluse and I have been bitten by it. Can't believe you had such huge populations of those deadly arachnids in your YARD - eeeek! Feel better soon.
PaSpiders and snakes!!!!!!! I think I'll keep the snow and cold! Not big on all those buggy kind of things. Hope you're feeling better soon!
Kathleen
Dances With Teddy BearsSandra, I hope you won't need surgery and that your hand heals quickly. Finding (the hard way) that those steps had been removed must have been quite a shock. A very painful shock.
And your spider tale. Double, triple EEEEEK! My skin feels like it's crawling, just thinking about those nasty spiders. I HATE SPIDERS!!!
Take care.
:hug:
Oh Sandra you poor thing! It must have taken you forever to type that with one hand too 
I hope you are on the mend soon.
Eek on the Funnel Webs! Wasn't so long ago that being bitten by one of them meant you were dead was it, I remember being petrified of them when I was a kid- not that I would want to run into one now Seemed every Summer someone got bitten and died from a Funnel Web spider.
We had a snake visitor just last week- first one I have seen down here, and I hope it's the last lol- judging by the description I was able to give the experts, it was a Tiger Snake (depending on which list you look at, either the 4th or 10th most deadly snake in the world )- we called the snake removal guy but somehow it sneakily escaped before he got here, despite us keeping what we thought was an eagle eye on it It was only a 'small' one- about 3 feet long
The scary thing for me was I had been out in the yard where it was not half an hour before with the dogs, in my bare feet, I will be much more careful in future- apparently Tiger Snakes are even active at night! I tell ya I much prefer our furry or feathered garden visitors to the scaly ones! lol.
Sue Ann, I am pretty sure they think our Redbacks are related to your spiders with the red hourglass. Redbacks are pretty common tho thankfully not as dangerous as a Funnel Web, nor as scary looking. Which is probably a good thing as you could probably find them in just about any backyard in Australia.
Boy oh boy Sandra what a drama!!! How are you ever going to manage the magazine? Hope it all heals quickly for you. I remember those creepy crawlies from when we lived out West in Sydney, we often had Funnel Webs in the pool, they can last for days at the bottom of the pool surviving on the air trapped in the hairs on their bodies, it was a matter of scooping them out with the leaf net and then stomping on them! Let us know how you get on won't you. Hugs Linda
Stomping! You are brave Linda, I can't even stomp a spider, I am afraid they will run up my leg or jump on me or something Specially a Funnel Web! I have to cover them with a BIIIIIG container and get someone else to deal with it.
Benson BearsSue Ann, our Red Backs are relatives of the Black Widow. They can give a very nasty bite though not usually fatal, they can make you really sick. I more afraid of the White Tail which likes to hang out under any clothing on the floor (pick it up), their bite isn't nasty but turns that way later with the introduction of bacteria via their fangs. Necrosis and limb amputation are the result!!!!!! And it can go on for YEARS and YEARS! You guys must think Australia is a seething mass of deadly wildlife, it isn't really you know. I think alot of the people populating the country are alot scarier :crackup: :crackup:
Benson BearsKaren, the worst of it was cleaning the mess outa the net afterwards, they're biiiig spiders and very squishy! :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:
Talking of snakes, we had one UPSTAIRS in the house a while back! Now THAT was freaky. And it was a sizable Tiger. I literally came eye to eye with it, as I went upstairs to invetigate what was knocking things to the floor up there.(It was the snake slithering along a beam up there) I managed to wrangle it into a corner with the cobweb broom,(you should never put things away after you're finished using them :crackup: :crackup: ) and Chris dealt with it with a hoe. Nothing else we could do I'm afraid.
Sandra,
I am sorry to hear about your injury. I do hope that it isn't as serious as you think and you will be able to heal quickly.
Spiders and snakes are one thing, but a population that large of spiders is just downright creepy....ewwwwwww.
Hugs,
Karen, the worst of it was cleaning the mess outa the net afterwards, they're biiiig spiders and very squishy! :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:
Talking of snakes, we had one UPSTAIRS in the house a while back! Now THAT was freaky. And it was a sizable Tiger. I literally came eye to eye with it, as I went upstairs to invetigate what was knocking things to the floor up there.(It was the snake slithering along a beam up there) I managed to wrangle it into a corner with the cobweb broom,(you should never put things away after you're finished using them :crackup: :crackup: ) and Chris dealt with it with a hoe. Nothing else we could do I'm afraid.
Oh no you had one upstairs!!! I am worried enough it that it might have come into my studio, which has doors that lead out onto the verandah where it was hiding, let alone having it upstairs.... thank goodness for that cobweb broom, tho I can't imagine being brave enough to confront a snake like that! :clap: I guess you never know til you have to do it!
Sandra, please do take care and I you fully recover soon. What a nasty accident. I can't imaging having such scary spiders in my yard , or snakes im my house ! No wonder your poor Newfoundland helper was cautious. There isn't anything like those snakes and spiders in his hometown.
