Can You Say Cooper Head?

Let me tell you about the little excitement I had today.  First, I picked up the trash that blew in and cut the grass on the property.  I could only complete the sides and the front of the yard; it was just too hot to continue on with the heavy work.  I will have to complete the back yard tomorrow or over the weekend.  Now for the excitement; I went into my garden, over to where my potatoes were planted in the middle of a bamboo surrounding.  I lifted the bamboo surrounding up, started pulling on the straw and lifting out potatoes when all of a sudden a copper head snake (baby 9 – 12 inches long) slithered next to my hand.  I jumped, looked for the shovel to kill the bastard, and I was too late.  He slithered over to the next bamboo surrounding where my sweet potatoes were growing in straw. I thought to myself, crap…..now I need to lift this bamboo surrounding up carefully to make sure not to get bit.  While I’m looking for this snake, I go ahead and harvest my sweet potatoes.  There was no sign of the snake; he went into the ground to stay cool.  He must have sensed I was ready to kill him!  Now, when going in the garden I’m going to have to wear my large rubber boots and thick jeans until I can find the little bastard.  Speaking of harvest, I pulled up all of my sweet potatoes and roasted some tonight with parsnips (from the farmer’s market) and carrots (from my garden), a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.  OMG…..there is nothing better than fresh vegetables roasted from your own garden.  Next year, I will have to plant tons of sweet potatoes.  

Since turning 50 years of age, I’ve decided I’m going to start taking care of myself a little bit better and make my health a priority.  I made a phone call and set up my yearly physical with my general physician.  My appointment was last week.  My doctor listened to my complaints, checked me over, filled a new prescription for water retention, completed the order for blood withdrawal, and made sure I received all of my referrals to (4) specialized doctors to address existing problems/issues.  Now I need to open up a calendar and write down all of the scheduled appointments for the next several months.  One of my appointments was with an orthopedic surgeon to address severe hip pain I’ve been experiencing for 2 years now.  After several x-rays, and a physical exam, I’ve learned that I have bursitis in the bursa sac on the hip.  I also have osteoarthritis (which I pretty much knew I had) in my hips and lower spine and a bone spur where the hip and pelvis meet.  My prognoses, I’m getting old, LOL!!!!!  I am scheduled to do several months of physical therapy to ease the pain and help reduce the inflammation.  Then it’s back to the orthopedic surgeon to identify if a needle (cortisone) placed into my bursa sac or will surgery be required.   On a good note, I’m using this little compact machine called a TENS unit for nerve/muscle stimulation on the hip.   After hip recovery, I will be able to keep this TENS unit (I have plans to add it to my first aid bag, I would have never thought to add one of these to my first aid bag).

So tell me, have you seen a snake lately?