I need stories like this when I am deep into a Minnesota winter. I may struggle with the cold but it does kill off the creeping things that can hurt me. Right now it feels like the only silver lining!
We do have spiders and snakes but they are not poisonous nor are they everywhere.
Growing up in Mass and New Hampshire, I never had to worry about anything more threatening than a swarm of black flies in May. Now that I live in Arkansas, if I want to go exploring it’s on with the $200 knee-high snake boots, jeans, hat, long sleeves and half a gallon of Deep Woods Off, and maybe bring along the Public Defender with 410 birdshot just in case.
It is a much prettier and more interesting landscape out here, but I do miss being able to traipse through the woods in a swimsuit and flip flops like I did when I was little!!!