North Maple Rag

I mentioned my somewhat unreasonable animal fears (and really, except for the oppossums and raccoons in my yard, the fears are mainly limited to icky fish and eel-like things). My post included a picture of an oarfish and what I failed to mention is that I'm not only afraid of being attacked by one the next time I'm in the ocean, I'm also afraid of being attacking while I'm in my backyard or watching tv. See, that's what makes the fear (and me, sadly) unreasonable.

If you're wondering where this all started, the answer's simple: Pierre, SD. My junior year of high school, I competed in the state student congress competition in Pierre (it was held at the state capitol) and one of my coaches made a point of driving us around to "see the sights." Among the sites we visited was the Oahe Dam on the Missouri River. As we were standing at the edge of the dam, my coach started telling us about the 5 ft. long catfish that lived at the bottom. Those damn (pun intended) catfish have haunted me since. I used to have dreams about them attacking me and then gnawing at my arm with gross whiskered heads. The dreams stopped a few years ago, but even now, sitting at my computer, the thought of them makes me flinch.

Anyway, South Dakota Magazine's blog has a post that makes my feas seem a bit more reasoned.