Did anyone have one of "those days" yesterday? I did. It was a Monday I won't soon forget and not for good reasons. The good thing is that the kids weren't around for the two events. Now, this was not seriously life threatening. (Although if I were allergic to stinging creatures or T wasn't quick with his snake killing skills it could have been life threatening.)
Yesterday started out normal enough except T had to take my usual mode of transportation to work and was leaving at a later time. He was loading up some tools when he calls me and says he needs the (pellet) gun in a whispered urgency I could not ignore. So, being the quick-reacting, dutiful wife I am, I grab the gun and tin of pellets and ran out the door (barefoot-but not pregnant-I will not be a stereotype!) not even knowing where he is. I assume he's at the tool shed (he is) and hand over our weapon of choice. I'm thinking there's a rat or other small rodent type creature hiding out in the shed from the way T is standing guard at the door. I'm not really concerned until he says that there's a den of SNAKES curled up in there. I immediately hoped he was joking (but he's not one to joke about snakes) and ask what kind they are. He says he thinks they are chicken snakes (also known at rat snakes) and fires a couple shots at them. You may be wondering why we are shooting it instead of getting a garden hoe and chopping it in half. Well, these snakes were behind a large item in the back corner of the shed under a shelf. T did have a long handled garden spade that he was using to get them to move around. We (actually I just stood and watched, T did all the work) finally got the first snake out of the shed. Now, it wasn't anaconda sized or anything, but for a chicken snake it was quite large and I know because we only killed about 13 of them last summer. In one month. (Such sweet memories.) T hacked it up and then started after the other snake. They were so big curled up around each other we thought there were more, however it was just two. (Thankfully, I might add.) He killed the other one too, but I didn't get to see it. I had to finish getting my three kids dressed so I could go grocery shopping. On the way out I stopped to show the boys the snake and take some pictures. (Sensitive eyes turn away. Or peek through your fingers which you are holding over your eyes.)
These snakes aren't deadly, however snake bites of any kind are dangerous. Snakes carry an immense amount of bacteria in their mouths and a bite can create quite an infection.
And because it's not enough to kill a couple of snakes in the morning, a scorpion decided to attack my middle toe while I was trying to enjoy a movie with my sweetheart last night. I had thrown out a blanket on the floor (because I can't just lay down on the rug like a normal person) and we were sprawled out watching George Clooney make a gun out of various car parts and other seemingly random items. It was near the end of this movie (while I was telling T how I thought it would end) that I got up to do something very important (probably find the remote, I can't remember) and lied back down in the same exact spot I got up from. Approximately 11 seconds later I felt one of the worse pains I have ever felt in my entire life (please remember I have given birth to 3 babies). I exerted a scream that T later told me "turned his blood cold." He thought for a split second I saw something in the movie that he missed and then the next thought was that something terrible had happened to me. Strangely enough, the first question he asked was if a scorpion had stung me (they aren't common in our house). I was busy trying to get away from the floor and turn on the light while wondering what had tried to cut my middle toe off. I said yes, maybe it was, while proceeding to asses the condition of my toe, which was burning and stinging with immense pain and felt like it was swelling to four times its size. T spotted the terrible offender on the blanket and starting beating it to death with a plastic snack cup the kids had left on the floor. Then, knowing what had afflicted such pain to me, I realized my toe was not going to fall off and I wasn't going to die I limped to the kitchen and put a paste of baking soda on my toe. (Great home remedy, by the way, for any insect stings: baking soda and water paste.) The darn thing got me twice. It's incredibly difficult to describe the pain but I'll tell you what I told T. (T has never been stung.) It was what I would imagine a whip of a thousand knives lit on fire would feel like. The initial sting was absolutely shocking. The second sting felt as I described. Intense pain. I am no sissy girl when it comes to pain. T can vouch for that, too. Needles don't bother me, fire ants are just a nuisance at this point (they are called FIRE ants because their stings are like microscopic camp fires being injected into your body) and as I've already said, I've given birth three times. It probably wasn't as bad as childbirth but it was the next best thing I've had the pleasure of experiencing. Or worse thing, however you want to put it. All scorpion stings are probably not the same. Last summer one stung me through my pants and while it did sting it didn't last long nor was it very intense. This one got me good. The pain lasted only about an hour (then I went to sleep) and my toe feels fine this morning. T said he knew it was a scorpion from the way I screamed. He said his friend got stung by one last winter and reacted the same way. He couldn't describe the pain adaquetly either. There's nothing to compare it too.
Anyhow, we finished watching the movie and I did a good job predicting the ending. I told T I was glad I was stung and not the kids. Especially our sweet baby Rose. Not that I would rather have the boys get stung, but you know, she's the baby. Scorpions are just so creepy. Also, they got a mention in the Bible being described pretty much as Satan's buddies. I curse you evil scorpion.
"And he said to them, 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.'" Luke 10:18-19
Power to the Tramplers,
Mama
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