The Jellies fight back!

Last night's post was sort of a "tongue in cheek" spoof of the crazy names of things in the Bay. I twisted and turned the names so that they seemed ridiculous. I poked fun at the Ground Mullet, the Gaff Topsail and the Jellyfish. I teased and taunted the poor defenseless critters. Did they get offended? Did they get mad and retaliate? Well..in a word..umm..YES! Tonight was another night of shrimping and all was going extremely well. The five gallon bucket was rapidly filling with the beautiful crustaceans! Each throw of the net yielded thirty or forty large shrimp and then..it happened. One of the Jellies that I taunted last night did take revenge upon me! As I reached down to pick up a large shrimp, I felt a telltale burn on my right hand. Not wanting to part with my prize, I endured this pain thinking that I merely brushed a Sea Nettle. Not so..the tentacles of the Sea Nettle wrapped around my hand. As I tossed the shrimp into the bucket, the tentacles slid around my hand and flopped onto the pier causing splatters to bounce back up to my face. By this time, my hand seemed as if it was on fire and I could tell it was starting to swell

a bit. Time to head to the house for a remedy. I grabbed the camera and bucket of shrimp and headed up the hill. I pondered just what should be done in case of a severe tangle with a Sea Nettle. No clue came to mind. I have been stung many times before but never to this extent. Once inside, I tried to think..old folktale remedies started popping into the head. Rub sand from the beach onto the sting..Hey..I live on the Bayou..we have mud! Pour human urine onto the sting..uhhhh..how about...NO!!!! Coat it with meat tenderizer..wait..no, that is for bee stings. I grabbed the salt shaker and poured a healthy mound of salt onto the hand that was now a lovely shade of vermilion and and was beginning to be as puffy as a pin cushion. I am not sure what possessed me to do this but at the moment it seemed to be a good idea. The salt proved to be a futile effort. Son walks in and tells me that it should be sugar..ahhh..he was on the computer

looking up remedies! Good Son!! Sugar..who would have thought..I reached for the sugar shaker. A mound of sugar now coated the sting. Ok, when is this supposed to work?? All the sugar did was melt into a sticky candy coating on my hand. Vinegar was the next suggestion that came from the Boy Wonder's mouth. Vinegar? You are going to pickle my hand?? Splash..the sugar oozes off of the hand into a puddle as the vinegar burns the stew out of every tiny scratch on my hand. Ok now..this is enough! No more ideas from him! I was just about to think the Jelly had won when the pain stopped and the redness started fading. Within ten minutes, the swelling was gone. Was it the salt? The sugar?? Or the vinegar??? Maybe the combination of all three??? Who knows? But something worked! The Jelly had its revenge but not for long!