Snake Nightmares

Once and a while, not often enough, we get a trailer of mulch and distribute it around our flower beds. We tend to let the weeds grow tall, therefore a great deal of weeding needs to be done first. The other day, we attacked our overwhelming, triangle-shaped bed. In it are two azalea bushes, a nice lily, and three trees. The main tree in the middle is a big mimosa that the boys have climbed on in the past. The problem is that a big, beautiful Camille bush grew into it. Plus, ivy had overgrown the trunk. It was too messy to climb.
We used all sorts of tools to clean it out. Ray got out the electric hedge trimmers for the Camille bush. I’m glad he didn’t hand them over to me because as he was working, he suddenly jumped back. A snake with vertical stripes slithered out onto the sidewalk. I’m not sure why I am the most afraid, but I ran into the house and watched through the window. He picked it up with a rake and threw it onto the grass where he could shoot it. The men and boys always gather around to study it and dispose of it. Now I have the heebie geebies.
I managed to get back to work, after Ray assures me that snakes live alone. We decided to cut down the Camille in order to open the space back up. We could transplant the root ball in the winter if I want to. I raked out piles of ivy, which really is a lovely, air-purifying plant. The boys were standing next to me while I explained what ‘heebie geebies’ and ‘the creeps’ mean. I explain that I tend to feel itchy all over and am extra jumpy. Exactly at this time, I spot a tire-colored body with a rising head right where my left hand was just grabbing at ivy roots! I gasped and screamed so loud that my throat hurt later. I backed up and ran onto the porch. The boys moved with me. Seiler suggested that it may have been my imagination because I had the heebie geebies. I said that maybe he was right, but I called Kevin and Ray over to check.
The old saying, “if it were a snake it would have bit you” no longer means anything to me. It was right next to me, poor thing. The men have to get the snake onto the grass in order to shoot it. This time it took a few shoots plus a shovel. I was thinking maybe it was a male and female together for mating. Kevin said it was a different species. It was so difficult to work after that. I insisted that I couldn’t do it alone. Little Landen kept me company. Talking made me feel better, as long as they didn’t say the S word!
I just knew I would have nightmares that night. Every night after working in the yard, when I close my eyes I see shapes of weeds my hands had previously pulled out repetitively. That night I saw a five-pronged root base shape. And snakes! Every time I closed my eyes or dozed off I saw snakes. Every waking curvy line I saw resembled a snake. Snakes could be anywhere. It was a restless night. Ray left for work early and then I had the worst dream of all. I always have the worst nightmares after he leaves. I dreamt that I was telling Lisa and Heidi about what happened in our yard. Suddenly, I was holding a black and yellow snake on my left hand! I tried to peel it off for a second, but it was too tight and intertwined in my fingers. I was terrified and the snake was helplessly stuck on my hand. I couldn’t shake it off. It hadn’t bitten me yet, thinking back I don’t think it would, but the anticipation that it would caused great panic.
I just had to check dreammoods.com to find meaning and closure. I found that:
To dream of your hands, represents your relationship to those around you and how you connect with the world. Hands serve as a form of communication. Perhaps you need to lend out a helping hand to someone. In particular, the left hand symbolizes your graciousness and feminine, receptive qualities
As a positive symbol, snakes represent healing, transformation, knowledge and wisdom. It is indicative of self-renewal and positive changes.
Black symbolizes the unknown, unconscious, danger, mystery, darkness, death, mourning, hate or malice.If the dream is an unpleasant one, then the color yellow represents cowardice and sickness. You may have a fear or an inability to make a decision or take action. As a result, you are experiencing many setbacks.
These explanations sound accurate to me. I am afraid of snakes, and I feel sorry for exterminating them too. Today I threw a whole box of moth balls around my porch area to try to keep them away. I’m still afraid to walk around outside. With every step I scan for long, slender shapes on the ground. I still have mulch to unload off the trailer, and I hope to git r done before we leave for our cabin tonight.