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Friday, July 21, 2017

Celebrate the Small Things with Reptiles


This weekly blog hop is sponsored by the amazing Lexa Cain, and co-hosted by L.G. Keltner from Writing Off the Edge and myself. 

What exactly are we celebrating?

Every week, wonderful things happen, tiny things, which make us smile. But as time grabs us up, we forget all about these moments as if they never existed at all. This is the chanc
e for us to reflect back on those and remember that there are tons of things worth celebrating.

This week, I'm celebrating. . .

1) Reptiles... maybe? There's two different angles on this one:

A) Reptile Show at the Library! During the Summer Reading Program at our local library, a special program is offered to the kids every Wednesday. This last week was reptile day. Dean Sheldon came in and let the kids view a small part of his private collection of reptiles and creepy, crawly things. Who is Dean Sheldon? He's the Guinness World Record holder for sticking the largest venomous scorpion in his mouth. (Don't ask me why anyone would want to do this, but I guess he does.) Anywho, he did a great job with the kids, showing them everything from snakes to scorpions (obviously) to alligators to dragon lizards. The kids were able to pet and hold most animals, which they loved.

Now, to the other reptile moment I experienced this week. I'm celebrating. . .

B) A venomous snakes which, by some miraculous feat, didn't bite me. Yes, you can read that sentence again because my heart still skips several beats at the thought.  I was weeding in the garden when three inches off of my hand (and I mean literally no more than that) an overly friendly Copperhead suddenly slid past. He was a big guy- at least 2 feet long. What did I do? Carefully and very, very slowly (with no sudden movements whatsoever) drew back as he continued to slither straight into the rock wall right below my knees and in between the cracks.

Needless to say, my husband came to the rescue a few moments later and the snake is no more.  I always feel bad when we kill something, but we couldn't let him live there, since it's near the kids' pool and the house and my garden....*takes a deep breath* I think you get the picture. But if it makes the poor snake feel any better, I will never forget him. Promise.


2) My son is done with Boot Camp, and he finished with 299 out of 300 points! (I know this has to do with the physical tests they have to pass, but I really don't know much more than that) Unfortunately, he's not heading home yet. He now as Infantry training for a few weeks, but that shouldn't be quite as tough as Boot Camp was.



And to round things up, here are the pictures I promised last week. 
Our hay.
This year, we hauled in around 1900 bales, and I was dead at the end. Not only tired, but there were a few joints and muscles that were reminding me that I might slowly be getting a bit old for such things. Honestly, I'm beginning to wonder if I ever want to cut hay again.

The stack is around 15 feet high. So I'm going to have tons of fun knocking those top bales down. Seriously. You'll see me climbing up there for kicks every now and then. I mean, it's a haystack! Yay!

This is our trusty baler, a tough guy from the 1960's. He's slow but hasn't failed us yet.

These silly guys refused to help me bring in the hay! Instead, they think they have to cool off under the faucet
Can't depend on those chickens.
*rolls eyes*



What about you? What put a smile on your face this last week? Find a new show to bing watch on Netflix? Find yourself with an extra hour of free time on your hands? Finish up a nasty section on your writing?

What are you celebrating this week?


17 comments:

  1. That is one scary story about the copperhead. You were smart not to jump, although I bet it was really hard not to. It is sad to kill something, but you don't want a poisonous snake living so close to people like that.
    Why would anyone put a scorpion in his mouth?

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  2. Yikes! Scary stuff! I prefer my reptiles small and hard-shelled and partial to eating banana and basil. :)

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  3. Congrats to your son on completing basic training brilliantly!

    Snakes scare me to death. We had water moccasins under our dock by the house I grew up in. I still have nightmares about them. Glad you got him instead of the other way around, but I agree. I don't like killing animals. I do put out mice traps in the basement and garage though because of disease--sorry Mickey.

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  4. Oh my! I'm not even sure I know what a copper head looks like. Glad he was able to get it out of the wall! I love that the cat decided to strut in front of the hay pile. ^_^

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  5. Goodness what a week you had with the reptiles. Congrats to your son on his boot camp score, hope the rest of his training goes well too.

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  6. I can't imagine sticking a venomous scorpion in my mouth for any reason. There'd probably have to be a lot of money in it for me to even consider it.

    That close encounter with the Copperhead sounds terrifying! I'm glad you're okay.

    Congratulations to your son! Making it through boot camp and doing so well in the process is an incredible achievement.

    Have a great weekend!

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  7. I hear you on not wanting to kill the snake, but I agree that you did the right thing. Far as I know, most snakes are harmless if left alone, but it wouldn't take much for that one to become a serious problem. >_< Also: that's a lot of hay. Wow.

    As for me, I'm celebrating just surviving the past week. Seven hours of mandatory overtime and other stressful things made it kind of difficult.

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  8. If it has legs, any reptile is welcome around my woods, but without legs, I'd prefer it take up residence elsewhere. We have rattlers galore, but they don't like us any more than we like them, so we maintain our distance and co-exist.

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  9. It sounds like a busy week! I don't mind snakes so much but it's hard to say with venomous ones. I love the chickens!

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  10. Late checking my Friday Small Things posts - sorry! Sounds like you're staying busy. A bout WOW to your son on his s99 score!

    We added a puppy to our household - yikes!

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  11. Lucky you - ripe tomatoes. Mine are still green. I grow them out of doors and the appearance of sunshine here in the UK is unpredicatable. A few years ago I resorted to making green tomato chutney. It was so bad that I threw it all away!

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