A lesson in rattlesnakes

Hello! I know, I know...it's been a while. I have had several ideas for posts, but just have not had the motivation to write daily. Too busy!

This post is one I have been wanting to post for a few weeks, but with another "Dumbass of the Day" by yet another member of my family yesterday, I felt it was time to sit down and get r done.

So about a week ago, my husband Will was on a jobsite and stepped out of his truck to survey the scene for a minute. He felt something touch his boot, but thought perhaps it was just that he had kicked something and proceeded to evaluate where he was going to need to be on site. A few minutes later, he felt the tapping on his boot again and looked down to where he was standing. To his surprise, he was being bitten on the steel toe by a little baby rattlesnake!

Thank goodness it was a baby! An adult one may have had the stretch to go higher than the boots and it would have bit right through the pant leg and into the leg, which would have not been good.

He jumped back, reached into the back of his truck to grab his shovel and chopped it's head off. He said he would have left it alone had it of showed no interest in him. But it was attacking him so he had to kill it. He said the little thing was so aggressive that it's head actually turned around and was biting the shovel!

Will brought the little thing home, minus the 4 inches of destroyed head and neck that were destroyed in the beheading. I am reminded of that day every time I open my deep freezer. He froze the damn thing to show us and it scares the hell out of me every time I open the freezer!

Over this past Labor Day weekend, I was telling the story to my two sisters and mother while sitting out by the pool. At a certain point during my story, my sister Traci turned to her son and said "Just remember son, if you are ever get bit by a rattlesnake, pee on it." Commenting to this, my mom says "I don't understand how peeing on the snake is gonna do anything other than piss him off."

I think my sisters and I were wondering what the hell mom had been smoking that afternoon. I then explained to her "No mom, you pee on the wound, not the snake." and then my inner smartass took over: "Hey! This thing just bit me can you pee on it for me?" We all were laughing so hard at her! My poor mom, always the smart one and has to deal with us making fun of her "blonde moments". Of course I told her she was going to get the "Dumbass of the Day" on my blog. It was just too good not to post.

Anyway, for any of you that are interested in a little factual information about snakebites, I have come up with the following:

1. If the area of the bite begins to swell and change color, the snake was probably poisonous.
2. One in four bites are dry bites, which means no venom was injected.
3.You are NOT suppose to cut it with a knife or sharp instrument. Do NOT suck out the venom (this could lead to you becoming poisoned, mouth swelling etc.), do NOT put ice or anything cold on the wounds and do NOT give the person any medication or anything by mouth. DO put a constriction band a few inches above the wound, DO keep the wound below heart level, DO remove anything like rings, watches or bracelets that may become stuck when swelling occurs and DO keep the person calm and get medical care as quickly as possible.
4. Snakes can still bite for an hour after they are dead.
5. As far as urinating on the wound, I could not find anything about this online as far as a snakebite is concerned. I did, however, find and have heard that urinating on a jellyfish sting is an effective method to reduce pain, but I wonder if it works the same with a snake bite? If anyone has ever peed on a snakebite and knows the answer to this question, I would love to know the truth.

One last lesson here - please never forget that mother nature bites, literally. Always be aware of your surroundings and watch your step when you are out and about in wilderness areas. Most importantly, teach your kids about nature and a few of the rules that you follow when visiting natural areas. While mother nature has made some beautiful areas and creatures to be admired, we have to respect these things and realize that they can be dangerous.

Until next time, happy trails...minus the snakebite :)

My Families Quick Wit

Those of you who know my family know that there is truly never a dull moment. We are lucky enough to all have been gifted with a great sense of humor, quick wit and the ability to do as much stabbing at each other as getting stabbed. But by all means, I have to give credit where credit is due. My youngest sister Mandie is the best at it. She has funny shit rolling off her tongue like it was just waiting to escape her mouth. No one can beat her at her own game. Usually that is. Tonight she must have been off her game a bit, because my brother in law Andrew (her husband) got her good with the following conversation:

Mandie: "My watermelon vine that has climbed the fence is growing better than the watermelon vine is that is on the ground. I wonder if watermelons grow better when hanging?"

Drew: "Well your melons seem to grow better when hanging."

I thought that was a pretty good one and just had to share! GOOD ONE DREW!!!

Dumbass of the Day - My mom

My dad has been visiting this week from Los Angeles and so we went out to mom's to visit and hang out with them this past weekend. While I was there, I got a good "Dumbass of the Day" comment from, of course, one of my family members. So for Saturday, October 24 the "Dumbass of the Day" has got to go to my mom.

Mom and I were watching movies together Saturday night since Will and Dad had gone to sleep. We had already watched one and I had purchased a couple at the store earlier on the sale rack. Will and I liked the movie "Fool's Gold" because as you all know, we love to free dive (and Mathew McConaughey is one of my favorites, as is Kate Hudson), so that was one of the ones I had purchased. However, mom had not seen it so I suggested that we watch.

When the names were rolling at the beginning of the movie, I noticed one of them was Malcolm Jamal-Warner. I stated to my mom "Hey, I think that was one of the guys that played on the Cosby Show". Her reply - "Yea, it was. He was the black kid." Well no shit. My reply - "Mom, they were all black kids!". DUH! We laughed so hard I almost fell off the couch! I told her she was making her "dumbass of the day".

Well, I'm not sure how much of my gene pool is redneck or hillbilly, but at this point, I am guessing there was some inbreeding going on somewhere. At least they are good for some comedic moments!

LOVE YOU GUYS!

Playing dress up for Monday Night Football

If you know the history of football in our house, I hate it but put up with it. Will loves it and watches it every chance he gets and the kids and animals put up with it because...well, because they have too. Will is a HUGE Charger fan. Gotta watch all those games. He says that I am a Charger fan, Allie is a Charger fan, oh and let's not forget that the dogs are Charger fans! Will also has two Charger jerseys that he wears every time a game is on to show his support. One for him and one for....whomever is around at the time.


Allie is usually the support system for this little adventure. I think Allie has turned on me - she just told us the other night that she needed a jersey her own size, and proceeded to point out that his jersey was a dress on her and the armpits on his basically went down to her waist. Anyway, I think she took it off finally and at some point when Will noticed, he made sure it got back on a warm body. Not mine, not Allie's but Kai's! He looked so cute in it too. Too bad we could not have cut a hole in it for his tail. It was a little long and he kept stepping on the backend, but he played along like the good sport that he is. Guess we might need to buy a couple of jerseys for Christmas - one for Al and one for Kai. Anyone make doggie clothes?

Photo of the Day admission and Dumbass of the Day for 9/3 (I think)

I have been meaning to make this post but obviously I have been caught up in my busy schedule lately. I've fallen off the photo of the day bus (sorry!) a few weeks back. I can honestly say, it is a project that I have to undertake and stick too at some point, but right now it's just not going to work. My schedule is too hectic to be posting every night and I am sorry. I have missed some great pictures from not having my camera along my side at every moment. On Patriots Day, I missed a red white and blue hot air balloon right over old town Gilbert when I went to work in the morning. I also missed all the beautiful flags up and down the street that day. Each light post in old town Gilbert has two flag holders on each side of it and on this day, the had put them all out to commemorate the 9/11 event. In addition, the American Legion across the street had all their flags up, which when I counted was 9 that I could see, and they had tied big yellow ribbons all the way down the little iron fence around the building. It was beautiful! Sorry that you could not all see it.

In addition, I have missed photographing some great clouds, my family and friends and some other odds and ends type stuff that I have seen while I have been out. I saw the strangest thing going to school the other night - a man riding an electric cooler. Yes, I said cooler! I saw it and was like 'man, I should have my camera right now! No one will believe this one!"

Truth be told, I want one of those things! It was cool. I decided to research it on the internet. Turns out there is such a thing! It's called the "Cruizin Cooler" and costs about $500. The guy is making a fortune off of these! I had some flashbacks of this being the perfect ride for NASCAR races. Screw taking the tram back and forth in that large parking lot - just ride your cooler to the bar! You can drink along the way!

Personally, I like the 'Cruisin Cooler Wagon', which I think is the ultimate redneck ride. It has the wagon fer yer kids or yer dog. Oh, or yer guns.

See what people come up with? I swear, one of these days my inventions are going to fly. Anyway just wanted to share that little story with ya cause I could not believe my eyes when I saw it.

Now on to my families "Dumbass of the Day" story. This happened 3 Thursday's ago and I have been meaning to post it, but well, you know, I got kinda busy. Anyway, I was briefly checking in on Facebook and my sister had posted this note: "I spent the day thinking I was going to make enchiladas. What I came home to was an ordained minister husband and news that I was hosting a wedding in my back yard. Interesting....". Of course this comment was reason enough for me to pick up the phone. Turns out the neighbors, we won't mention any names but will just call them "the bartender and the sheriff", decided they wanted to get married. And not in the future but in the NEAR FUTURE. Like now. So Drew went online and became an ordained minister. Then he set up the backyard with candles and added some lights to the bar. And then Mandie came home and was thrown into the mix. So she went to the store, bought a cake and some flowers, dug out her wedding glasses and cake topper and got ready to host a wedding. In her backyard, after work, with 6 people and the dogs in attendance, on a Thursday night. But THEN Drew wondered how legitimate his training was in ministry. So they called up a friend who is an ordained minister and she came right on over and performed the ceremony.

Huh? My family seems to be moving more towards the 'redneck' status than I thought. And at a quicker rate of speed than I thought. Anyway, on to more productive things. I gotta get some homework done. I have a test on Thursday and have not read a thing. I'll check back in in a few days.

Peace and Love and all that crap!

Yahtzee

I know. I'm lame. It has been a while since I wrote. Well you too!

Anyway, life happens, ya know what I mean? Since school started, my computer crashed my car broke down. Shit happens. I've been busy. Truth is, I have wanted to write MANY, MANY times. But I had to make myself stop. School comes first a and  I had to get away from the Facebook, the MySpace and my blog. Anyway, I have had several times I have been meanin to write, but I have prioritized my life in the order of importance right now, yaknowwhatImean?

So, with that said ( you'll be hearing that a lot - I LIKE IT!), here is my blog for the day. Although its not from today. It’s from various days. Weeeelllll…..YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!!

Will just beat me at Yahtzee. Again. His all time high score is 599. Tonight, he got a  452. Not bad. Definitely  the one to beat. He always beats me. And everyone else for that matter. His high score pisses me off. He calls himself the “King of Yahtzee. For god’s sake (or his own), can someone not beat him? Perhaps the perfect  someone needs to be me. Perhaps not. I have played numerous games against this man and still his title stands. Are you going to put up with this shit? I'm not. That's why I am turning to you people. Does anyone out there think they can beat him? I doubt it.

The point is, someone needs to bring him back down to earth and it cannot be me. He just won’t believe it. He thinks he should retire while he is ahead, that's how good he is. Sean? Everyone and anyone? Where are you? I bought him a damn Yahtzee game for Christmas so that we all could play more. Now he plays a little too much. Truth be known, his head is big, NO ONE seems to beat him and everyday is good for him at this point.

I am telling on him. SOMEONE NEEDS TO BEAT HIM!!! He is only addicted to the electronic version and seems to think he is the world Champ or something! Bring it on brothas! Help me beat this primadonna asshole! Why not? Got anything else to do? Any goals in life? Not us. We’re easy. Try us out some time!

Peace, Love and all that crap :)