The Snakes Crawl In, The Snakes Crawl Out

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After spending about an hour on the computer yesterday afternoon, I decided it was time for a break. As I walked out of the bedroom, I noticed the long black, snake-like tail of something across the floor just in front of the door. For a split second I thought to myself, “Damn toys.” I almost reached down, grabbed it and threw it out from the middle of the floor. Then it dawned on me. My grandson has a bright green rubber snake, not a black one! I called out, “Dad, I think we have a snake in the house!” He says, “Really? Where?” I told him and as he came to look, the snake started moving. It slithered across the shelves by the washing machine and then went behind it.

Great. It’s not bad enough this snake found a way into the house but now he’s under the dang washing machine. I wasn’t worried that it was a poisonous snake. I was pretty sure it was just a black rat snake. We’ve had them before around the yard near the house so we figured he came from under the house. No wonder we haven’t heard mice in the wall for quite some time. They are good for that, you know. What the cats don’t catch, the snakes do! I wondered, how will we get him out of the house? I texted my son and told him we needed help. Dad tried to chase the snake out, but it wasn’t cooperating. My son finally showed up and the two of them tried to persuade that poor snake to come out so C.F. could capture it and put it outside. [We don’t kill things like half the other people that live out here in the country. Seems like if it moves rednecks want to kill it, no matter what it is!]

Of course, my grandson was curious and wanted to see what was going on. He came in to watch and pretty soon that snake slithered out from under the washing machine and headed towards D.M.! I wasn’t in the room at the time, but S.R. said he wasn’t too thrilled about that snake coming toward him so she snatched him up and got him out of the line of fire. Turns out, the snake was just headed towards the hole that he came in from. We plugged up the hole, hopefully keeping snakes and other critters….spiders….from coming in.

Snakes don’t really bother me much as long as I know it’s there. I wasn’t too thrilled about this guy being in the house though, wondering if it would crawl into bed with me some night or slither out from under the couch and scare the daylights out of someone! I didn’t want him to get so hungry he would go after the ferret either! Of course, if a snake slithered into the ferret cage and managed to eat the ferret, it would then be too fat to get out of the cage! I’m sure that the ferret would put up one heck of a fight too.

So, the snake slithered in and then it slithered back out. No harm, no foul, and it lived happily ever after.

Microwave Ice Cream…..

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Well, dad has gone and done it again. Seems like he’s always doing something (or not doing something) to make us wonder about him!

Dad usually has chocolate ice cream every night at around 9pm. He gets the 5 qt. tub of chocolate ice cream out of the freezer and sticks it in the microwave just for a few seconds to soften it. He scoops out some ice cream, puts the lid on the tub and puts it back in the freezer. He’s all set.

Last night, he went through his entire routine except he left out the part where he puts it back in the freezer. Instead, he put it in the microwave. We didn’t find it until this morning when Dad went to reheat a cup of coffee!

Oh my!

Update – The Fight Continues

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In a previous post I made a list of 4 things that I am going to work on in order to become healthier. I list those things again, below, but this time with the actions I have taken thus far.

#1. More Exercise – My Dad bought me stationary peddle exerciser. I am using it twice per day for at least 10 minutes at a time. I will increase the amount of time as I become accustomed to it. The first day I used it, I went 10 minutes and I hurt all night long. My enemy (arthritis) was not happy with me. Too bad.

#2. Change My Diet – I have begun eating healthier foods. I am trying to be aware of what I’m eating at meal time. I’m drinking more fruit juices, water & milk. I am eating more fresh fruits and veggies, nuts & whole grain products and cheese. I will not lose my chocolate so I am eating dark chocolate, but not every day!

#3. Use Essential Oils & Herbs – I made myself some Arnica Massage Oil, which I use each night to help ease the pain and relax my muscles. I use epsom salts and a dab of peppermint essential oil in my bath water; but so far I take more showers than baths. I dab a little lavender essential oil on my wrists when I begin to get depressed or anxious. It’s very calming. It’s really too hot & humid right now to enjoy a cup of Chamomile Tea before bed, but when it cools down I’m on it! Then maybe I will sleep better.

#4. Reduce My Weight – This is the one that will be the hardest of all to accomplish! BUT using the list above, my weight should slowly be reduced. I don’t have a scale so that’s on my list of things to do.

I am still drinking an 8 oz. bottle of Elations each day, taking MSM, Vit. D & Calcium supplements, drinking 6 oz. of black cherry juice each day. As much as I don’t like to do it without a Doctor’s guidance, I’m taking 1 Aleve every 12 hours. It’s the only thing that will help even a little bit. I am feeling a bit better. The pain is still there, I’m still a bit depressed but it’s hard to distinguish between depression from the pain and depression from personal family matters. BUT I’m going to do whatever I can and fight this enemy of mine! Of course, I’ve yet to finish jumping through all the hoops necessary for Medical but I’m not done fighting yet!

A Random Memory

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When I was living in California there was a commercial made by a local used car salesman. His name was Cal Worthington. His commercials were low budget and a favorite of my daughter’s when she was about 4 or 5.

My memory is fading a bit on the lyrics but they were different every time except for the part that repeated at the end “Go see Cal, Go see Cal, Go see Cal.” Every commercial, ol’ Cal Worthington would have a different animal. The introduction was “Here’s Cal Worthington and his dog Spot.” Spot would be a bear, a horse, a tiger, a monkey…anything he could get he’d use in his commercials. One time he had a hippo. Unbeknownst to me at the time, my daughter thought he was saying “horsey cow” when he was actually saying “Go see Cal” and this misunderstanding led to something quite amusing!

When I found out about her little misunderstanding we were at the zoo. The hippo was very visible; you could really get a good look at how big this animal really is. To our surprise, my daughter bursts out “Lookie, horsey cow, horsey cow, horsey cow!” At that moment I knew because she was repeating the words in the same manner as the words in the song. We all laughed our butts off that day!

Kids. Gotta love ’em.

A Few Changes

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As stated in my previous post, I am making some dietary changes. I have tried diets of all kinds before. I’ve even gone as far as to not call them diets, but a plan to eat healthier instead. I always fail. I think I may have tried to make too many changes too quickly, so a new approach is in order. I’ll change a few things at a time, giving myself (body & mind) a chance to become accustomed before moving on to another change. Makes sense right?

For some time now, I have removed sodas from my diet. Occasionally, at a restaurant I might have a root beer but for the most part I’ve been drinking Iced Tea. I’ve been using Splenda to sweeten my tea because I’ve been drinking it sweetened all my life. I’ve been cutting down the amount slowly so not to drive myself insane. LOL. Of course, I need to add more water to my diet so I’ll have a glass of water with every meal, instead of tea.

Since this dietary change is not only for weight-loss purposes but also for pain relief (from arthritis) I am drinking one 8 oz. bottle of Elations per day. Elations contains Glucosamine 1,500 mg and Chondroitin 1,200 mg for bone and joint health. It hasn’t helped with my arthritis yet but I’ll keep drinking it. What can it hurt, right?

Today, I purchased some All Natural Black Cherry Juice at the local Natural Foods store. Now when I say local, I mean 30 miles away. That’s local to us! It’s pure cherry juice with no added anything! I’ve learned that cherries have anti-inflammatory properties and that eating 12 cherries a day can help relieve pain. Ok, so I’m going to drink 6 oz. of cherry juice at least once a day. That would have to be equal to or greater than 12 cherries a day, right?

I think if I continue to make minor changes and give myself a chance to get use to one before making another change, I think I’ll be able to do it. I’ll have to let you know how it goes.