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Related: Culture Forums, Support Forumshome again. but I almost went back to the hotel last night.
I was going to check out of the hotel on Wednesday, but the forecast was some pretty hot weather and my sister talked me into staying a couple more days. So yesterday was the day. Check-out time was 11, but I had an appointment with the wound care clinic at 1 and asked if I could hang until 12:30 or so. The husband showed up at 10 and helped schlep most of my crap out to the car and took the refrigerated items on back to the house.
good-bye AC and fairly clean conditions
After the hospital visit, I grabbed some junk food and since it was pretty hot decided to take a small road trip for a couple of hours. I was thinking about maybe driving the circle to Elfrida/Douglas/Bisbee/Tombstone and back to Benson. But I changed my mind and decided to go to Cochise Stronghold. I hadn't been there in years. Ever since I was a little kid I had gone there in August for the annual reunion of the Pioneer Cowboys Association. My Grampa used to be on the board and it was a fun picnic - steak fry actually, as you might imagine from the organization name. I don't know how far back that gathering went, but it had been at the Stronghold all of my younger life. Some time in the late 80s the Forest Service halted those kinds of events there. I don't know the reason, but it always left a bad taste in my mouth, considering most of the families had been around since before there even was a Forest Service.
Anyway, it is pretty cool back in there and it seemed like a perfect drive for killing the hot part of the day. You wind back in to the canyon on a fairly decent dirt road, past a few private property in-holdings and a few formerly private homesteads that are now available for rent (?) from the Forest Service.
the view on the way in
a big sheer granite face
but what do we find when we get to the campground area? WTF?
Well, the afternoon is passing and there are some good dark clouds coming in, maybe there will be a storm on the way home or even better, one AT home.
I get back to the house and it is still sunny and pretty warm so I sat out on the front porch for a bit, then got to work finishing up making a bed in the living room. My bed is trashed and two ranch dogs have been sleeping on it the whole time I was gone (aww they love me). Dinner of stir-fried beef and veggies over rice. And it finally started raining. That was nice. Couldn't get on the internet but rain is always worth any techno problems. I got ready for bed and had just laid down when my younger son came in the kitchen for something. All of the sudden there was THAT BUZZING SOUND. Rattlesnake somewhere near. On the back porch?
Panic ensues and various somewhat inebriated menfolk (Friday night, celebrating my homecoming? ) scramble and fumble for flashlights, shovels, chairs to stand on, etc. They looked all over and couldn't find it. It quit buzzing and dog knows there are plenty of hiding spots out there - washing machine, trash cans, tool chests, buckets of tools and other crap, laundry, you name it it is out there. If I hadn't been tethered to this wound vac, I would have found the fucker. But the tubing and having to carry something in one hand all the time limits movement and I hate to risk yanking it out by catching it on a door knob or table corner or something. I don't give up on rattlers near the house. But they decided they couldn't find it and that was that.
I was close to getting in the car and leaving. More because I was mad than afraid, but still!!! Oh well, hopefully the cat will piss it off in the morning when they can see better and get it. I laid awake for a while, enjoying the lightening and rain and adjusting to a new bed. Then just as I was drifting off to sleep...BZZZZZZZZ! fucker sounded like he was in the kitchen or the hall pretty close. No way can I move fast enough so I grab my cell phone and called my son. He was also just falling asleep and groggily responded to my yelling that it was in the kitchen, get the shovel, turn a light on!!!! I think he walked right past it to turn on the light. I can't see anything but I hear him and his brother clonking the shovel on the floor and "get it, get it!" and other disorderly noises while I am yelling "don't dent the floor, don't ruin the rattles! put it in a bucket and let me see it" I think they were also taking pictures. at least I could sleep now.
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graphic warning on final picture - stop here if it might bother you
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(head is in another container)
Sigh. It is good to be home.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,762 posts)Glad you're home! And I am even gladder there are NO RATTLESNAKES HERE!
Kali
(55,027 posts)oh yeah, it is August. Snake month.
TexasTowelie
(112,620 posts)I wish you well in your recovery, but after that last picture there is no way in hell I'm coming to see you. I'm not fond of any type of snake, but rattlesnakes have always been one of my biggest fears. Please sleep well--I know that I couldn't if I was in your situation.
Kali
(55,027 posts)that was the third since we moved out here in '86.
You would be safe in February. I think.
Suich
(10,642 posts)Glad to hear you're home!
and as I told my PC the other day...if you don't laugh you may end up crying.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Kali
(55,027 posts)much less the prep.
MADem
(135,425 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)Had that happen when one came down from the roof through the wood stove pipe and slithered out...
Then the kid kept on claiming one was in the coop with the chickens. His chore was to let them out every morning before the bus came to take him to school.
Didn't believe him, but went out there that day and there it was, all of 5 foot, coiled up and hissing like the one of the Gadsden flag.
Couldn't get him before he slithered under a board in the barn, so went to a pawn shop and got a bolt action shot gun. Should have done it a long time before, if you find one, there's a lot more.
Went snake hunting every morning after that. School bus driver got to see the crazy lady in the granny nightgown and boots with a shot gun looking for them every day.
They stink when you kill 'em, though. I was going to skin some and all, but the stench was too much. All those rotten field mice.
Good times, LOL.
Hope it cools off for you soon and the rattlers, scorpions and tarantulas can be kept at bay.
And get well from that scary stuff going on!
Kali
(55,027 posts)of an old guy who got kind of bedridden at the old homestead and took to using his gun to kill scorpions on the ceiling.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)I did learn in college entomology class that scorpions eat ticks. So they have some value, ugh.
Gawd! I hate ticks!
Kali
(55,027 posts)ticks are pretty gross. I have had one in my ear twice, though not attached. once when I was a kid (here) and again sometime after we moved here. the husband got one and it attached in his ear - ouch! painful and even more painful to remove!
freshwest
(53,661 posts)But at one time the doctors had us both on medicine that the ticks and all other insects must have not liked the taste of as they left us alone.
Only thing was the brown recluse... hate them, too. It was a mess getting over that. Wondered if that started your troubles?
I didn't kill spiders unless they were recluse. They can give animals bad kidney problems, too.
Kali
(55,027 posts)the abcess was internal and not directly linked to my exterior surface at al,l so it kind of remains a mystery. there has been a lot of damage to my knees and legs over the years and the surgeon seemed to think it was probably a small remnant of something just waiting to expand when my system got down a bit. the infection dr. seemed skeptical of that, but didn't offer an explanation either. on reading further it seems they can form just from the cellulitis itself. (now what exactly set that off this time, I have no idea!)
freshwest
(53,661 posts)They hurt so much I can hardly move but I don't if there is a way for a MD to tell if you have it unless something big is going on.
I'm trying to keep moving and ignore the pain but I'm just about knackered with whatever it is and hope to get better soon.
I don't even know why people get the cellulitis anyway, if that is what it is. But I had a friend with it and it was awful for her and affected her kidneys, too.
It's a real drag!
Sissyk
(12,665 posts)You may not even know they have bitten you, or stung you. They really don't mean to do it. You just get in their way.
However, if you do get bit by one, you need to get to a doc pronto. I've known several people that had holes in their body parts that were stung by the brown recluse. I mean, bad rotten painful holes in their bodies.
One good friend got stung on her butt. Had to have surgery to fix the big hole it left.
Bad, bad spiders..
freshwest
(53,661 posts)I was informed just how bad it could get as your friends and recieved aggressive treatment for it.
A friend's dog died from kidney disease and the vet said it all started with a recluse bite.
I got bit in my bed when I was asleep and do know they don't mean it, but you can't exactly reason with the little buggies, can you?
So now I kill 'em but still take other spiders outside to continue with their good works, LOL!
Sissyk
(12,665 posts)No, you can't reason with them. lol!
I instantly kill them if I see them. The thing around here though (Tn., south) is they get in your house, in your shoes in the closets (we live in the country), in your bed as you said, just everywhere. You don't even know it until you get an infection like nothing else.
I take other spiders outside too. I actually love to watch most spiders. They are very entertaining! And, we have lots of them.
Hekate
(90,978 posts)I'm glad your sons knew just what to do with the intruder. I'm glad you and your family and the cat are all okay. Whew!
Great photos of gorgeous countryside. You stay on the road to recovery, Kali.
Kali
(55,027 posts)unfortunately.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)and into the wild.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)magical thyme
(14,881 posts)Thank you for the reminder of why I reeeeaaaallly don't want to move south or west. All the poisonous critters there.....YIKES!!!!
Kali
(55,027 posts)of course some years there are shitloads of rattlers.
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)the Grand Canyon. An arizona pink was curled up and resting by the river, about 50-60 feet from my tent, by the path to the "ladies pee area."
A group of us went to get a look. I have pictures taken pretty close up. The snake seemed pretty used to tourists staring at it. It just stared back, but never budged or rattled.
Then one night I got up to visit the port-o-potty. I could see a flashlight up there, so politely waited. Alan, the Brit who was traveling with us, came down a few minutes later looking a little shaken. He'd been sitting on a pot when a snake slithered by. He said it had a rattle on its tail. GAH!
Kali
(55,027 posts)magical thyme
(14,881 posts)Hoping and praying the snake had just continued on its way...
Kali
(55,027 posts)riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)Rattlesnakes? Holy shit....
Mice, the occasional bird, and skunked dogs are the worst of it for me.
Kali
(55,027 posts)had a boyfriend from New York for a while when I was in college, he complained everything in AZ was either sharp, hot, or poisonous. some things all three.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Had to send it to the vet to be checked. They only wanted the head to send to the state department of health but I made the vet do that dirty work. Sure enough, he had rabies.
Kid had to get a series of rabies shots. Had to drive hundreds of miles away to get the vaccine, then take it to the doctor who gave him the shots. The shots are based on body weight, which I didn't know.
I thought people got the rabies shots in the stomach or something, but since he wasn't big and was bitten in the hand, they gave him the shots there and he didn't fuss.
The state also dropped bait from helicopters with rabies vaccine for the coyotes to eat to work on the area, which was called a rabies epidemic area. I didn't know that worked, but they said they were doing it.
Learned a lot about rabies from all of that. The state health department showed me a map where rabies deaths were. One was a bull, another a goat, but I never thought about that.
And a young man bitten by a bat. He didn't pay it any mind as it was was more like a scratch. It took a while to show any symptoms. It was too late.
They told us about cases of bubonic plague being carried by coyotes and showed that on the map. And then the junta virus thing happened and those young people died.
Live around a lot of life and death in the country. It ain't like a Disney movie.
greatauntoftriplets
(175,766 posts)rattlesnakes notwithstanding.
Kali
(55,027 posts)Hassin Bin Sober
(26,352 posts)Glad you are still mending.
Kali
(55,027 posts)Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)I have only seen three snakes this season. My cats caught two of them. Male kitty had a baby black snake and Female Kitty had what looked like a baby copperhead.
Then I saw an adult black snake winding its way across the road to the other side.
Haven't seen any rattlers this season and Not In The House, never
You always tell the best picture stories
Kali
(55,027 posts)not being familiar with copperheads, they make me nervous as hell. I know my two venomous kinds well, don't have to worry about the others. they are either bright stripes (coral snake and not much of a real threat) or they have a rattle and will sometimes give a warning.
cats are good snake watchers fo sure
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)They blend in so well with the dirt around here. A lot of times you don't see them until you are right on them.
Once my brother and I were working on the shed and Bam! a whole nest of them squirming and writhing.
Kali
(55,027 posts)I have heard of nests of rattlers too, and in Texas they migrate and winter in small caves -
Sissyk
(12,665 posts)Did you find out why Cochise was closed? Seems like such a shame for a great land mark to be closed to the public.
Glad you are finally home. We always heal better, and feel better, when we are home. At least, I do. Continued healing to you!
I thought the skunk that got in our basement was bad!! Don't know what I'd do if I heard, or saw, a rattler.
Kali
(55,027 posts)they said since the capmground was "upgraded" (whatever that means) in the 90s it is closed for "the season" which I take means summer (WTF? - yeah it is kind of hot but that is at an elevation of 4500 and up, it is cooler than the surrounding area). I guess it opens some time in September, until ? I couldn't find the info on any signs, but it is probably on-line.
I am doing good, just takes time for big holes to fill in and close up. Thanks!
It was upgraded in 1990 but closed for the season in 2014??? lol! j/k. I know what you mean.
Take care of yourself!
panader0
(25,816 posts)No rattlers here so far this year-a few bull snakes.
Lots of rain lately, .4 last night. The garden is loving it. Glad you are home.
Kali
(55,027 posts)so good for the grass. Man it looked good over there by sunsites/richland, grass was already heading out. we got less than 3 inches in all of july, even the side of the pavement isn't very green or tall through here.
are you on rainlog? http://rainlog.org/usprn/html/main/about.jsp
I have three gauges on there but one only shows when I do a report for it. I do the daily but I don't record zeros, too lazy and the printout I like for the year data is hard to read when they are all included.
femmocrat
(28,394 posts)Great narrative, Kali!
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,947 posts)Once in awhile a raccoon wanders through, and I saw a possum in the garden last summer. There is something to be said for living in a place where the winters would freeze the balls off a brass monkey: No venomous snakes, no scorpions, no brown recluse or black widow spiders. There are a few sluggish, docile timber rattlers in the Mississippi River bluffs but they are rarely seen, and there are many, many mosquitoes and black flies. You get away from the city and there are bears, coyotes, wolves and the occasional mountain lion, all of which could eat you but normally don't; and I never find any of them in my kitchen where I have to kill them with a shovel.
Still, the scenery in your neck of the woods does look spectacular...
Kali
(55,027 posts)I don't want to experience them!
shenmue
(38,506 posts)BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)...the heavens must be gorgeous at night.
I am pretty spoiled about that. One thing the county has been proactive about, the light regulations.