Mountain Critter

As previously mentioned, I just returned from a wonderfully long vacation at the Mountain House. My friend K and I arrived there after working all day and a 5+ hour drive, around midnight. The area was pitch black, and the blasted motion-sensor light wasn't working, so we were trying to get out of the car, pull out whatever bags were needed until morning, and get into the house in the dark. Fortunately I had a small flashlight in the car, so we put that to use. K stopped and whispered loudly "There's something moving in the bushes", indicating the long row of day lillies in front of the porch. I pointed the flashlight that way, and the rustling noise stopped, but we couldn't see anything. So we continued getting into the house, and K got up onto the porch first and again whispered "I'm telling you, there's something moving in there". Fearing it was a snake, racoon or skunk (or even worse), I ran up onto the porch and then shone the flashlight around the area behind me. To our surprise we saw ----- a box turtle???? I had no idea they lived on the top of mountains - I always assumed they lived near streams and lakes. Who knew! The thing was pretty good sized - about the size of a large saucer or luncheon plate. While we watched, it reached the edge of a landscape timber and rolled under the porch with a THUD! So much for fierce mountain creatures!

OUCH Update

It's been a few days since the infamous yellow jacket invasion, and I'd noticed a sizable lump on the underside of my jaw, getting bigger each day. I had an appointment today for some follow-up blood work, so decided to call and see if I could have a doctor check out the lump, and was able to get at lunchtime today. The doctor checked it out and isn't worried at all - says it's my lymph gland doing its job, fighting off what it views as an intruder in my system (aka bee sting stuff - I know there's a term for it but can't think of it at the moment). He's prescribed anti-inflammatory meds for a week or so, and said if it doesn't go down - or if it gets any bigger - to call and come back in. He said too, that this is the first time he's had a patient EAT a yellow jacket, although he did have one get stung on a lip when the bee was in a drink. Another first for me - wa hoo!

OUCH!!!!

So there I was, sitting on the deck of my cousin's mountain house, enjoying lunch outside one day of my much-needed week-long vacation. I was eating a turkey and cheese sandwich, very tasty, relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather. I took another bite of my sandwich, and immediately noticed a very strange sensation in my mouth. Something was definitely wrong - so I spit out the bite onto my plate and saw - a yellow jacket! My tongue was stinging and burning, and I knew that I had been stung. On my TONGUE!!!!! I pulled an ice cube out of my glass of tea and held it on my tongue for a minute to try and numb it, but it didn't help much. Going into the house, I tried to look at my tongue in the mirror and could see just a tiny red spot - not nearly as big as it felt, trust me. My friend K who was with me asked if I'd ever had any strong reaction to bee stings, and was watching me closely. We debated jumping into the car and heading towards the hospital ER, about 20 minutes away, but it sure seemed like a silly thing to do for a bee sting. However, I'd never had one in such a sensitive place so I didn't know what to expect. We decided to wait it out and, while it was painful for the rest of the day and the next, it never caused any more problem. But OUCH!!!