Snake Bit?

Did I mention I think I was bitten by a snake a couple days ago?

I was out in the thoroughly ignored and overgrown garden pulling up very tall grass with my bare hands when I felt something ouchy on my left hand. I didn’t think anything of it at the moment, because the grass I was pulling up has sharp edges and there are fire ants and other biting things all over the place right now. I just pressed on and continued pulling up tall grass until the heat and humidity made me stop.

Then I came inside and did some housework without bothering to look at my hand, since it didn’t hurt or itch … I just plain didn’t think about it. Some hours later, while I was sitting at my desk typing, I noticed two very even and neat marks on my left index finger near the knuckle. It was then I recalled that something had caused me a bit of pain on my left hand, so I examined the marks and discovered two even smaller marks beneath the more noticeable ones. At this point, there was no swelling, pain, itching, or any other odd things going on with my finger, hand, or body, so I washed my hand well, put some Neosporin on it, and put it out of my mind. Hadn’t killed me yet, right?

The next day it was a wee bit swollen and pink directly around the marks, but still no pain or anything odd going on. Just four little scabs. It’s the same today too, though what little swelling there was is almost completely gone (and I do mean very little swelling – almost unnoticeable when at its worst). I still feel fine, and there’s still nothing odd going on with any part of my person. I think if it were a poisonous snake (and I was actually bitten by a snake), I’d be noticing something by now (if not being dead). Also, if I were going to have an allergic reaction, that would most certainly be happening by now (by body, it reacts –overreacts– very quickly to allergens, though I always take an antihistamine when coming in from the garden as a precaution). Right?! I would be noticing some awful thing going on by now, wouldn’t I?

This is what it looks like right now:

Snake Bite?

I’ve never seen an actual snake bite of any sort before, and no one I know has ever been bitten by any sort of snake, but it looks like a snake bite to me. I tried doing a Google image search, but all I was seeing were the most horrible examples of snake bites, and I’d rather not have that kind of stuff in my head, thank you very much. At least not while I think I have a snake bite.

I’ll be keeping an eye on it, in case it suddenly starts looking awful or I start feeling wretched. Thus far nothing, and I hope that remains the same. I cannot afford some kind of horrible snake bite ordeal. I don’t have the time, the money, or the energy!

Unknown Becomes Known

Two years ago, I tried to identify this weedy (but pretty plant) growing in my front yard, and I never really gave up trying to find out what it was, but there are only so many photos of purple flowers I can look at before I lose interest.

Click pics for larger view!
Unknown Plant
Unknown PlantUnknown Plant

At the time of the original post, a regular reader and friend said she had something similar to it, and hers was a “Ruellia Brittoniana Katie Purple” … and so I spent a lot of time looking at different varieties of Ruellia. I have yet to find any varieties that look exactly like the ones in my yard. There are so many varieties! But I am prepared to declare the weedy (but pretty) plants trying to take over my yard some variety of Ruellia, and this one in particular is a very close match. Everything matches up except the leaves on mine have a bit of a ruffle to them, but that could be because the conditions in Texas when I took that photo were excessively harsh and drought-like. I haven’t looked at them closely lately, but the ones invading the bed in front of the house don’t seem to be as ruffled this year.

So at long last, the unknown plant will now be known as Ruellia Nudiflora … Violet Wild Petunia. They also get to continue invading my yard. Even though they aren’t fabulous for walking around on barefoot, and whenever water gets on the seed pods they propel the seeds out so explosively it hurts to get hit by them, they ARE pretty, and they grow well with no care at all. I think this summer I’ll gather some of the seeds and try to get them started in the far end of the back yard. There are worse weeds to have than wild petunias, and these things do seem to choke out all other weeds (as well as carpet grass, unfortunately).

This Little Light

At some ridiculous hour of the morning, I woke up to go to the bathroom, and Tora was squeaking away in the kitten like the crazed little thing she is. Naturally, I went to investigate. There she sat on the stool by the kitchen window, staring through the glass, and being as agitated as a small cat can be. Getting down on eye level with her, I peer out into the darkness to see what she’s on about, and there in the yard I see a light. One little spot of brightness in the general pitch blackness of my back yard.

“That’s odd,” I thought. I grabbed my phone, put on my garden clogs, and went to investigate.

Well … duh. Lin had bought a silly little $2.50 solar yard light at Walmart, in order to see if it totally sucked or not, and we stuck it out there that day when he got home from work, and then promptly forgot about it. I think that was two days or so ago. I meant to see what it was like that very night, but we ate dinner, sat on the couch, watched some TV, and fell asleep in the living room … and then just completely forgot the thing was out there. Impending senility, I am certain.

I have to say, considering it’s a very cheaply made piece of plastic from China that can be had for $2.50 at Walmart, and the fact we haven’t seen much sunlight since we stuck the thing out there, I’m pretty impressed with the amount of light it puts out. A few more of these out there would certainly light the way for late-night garden harvesting (it happens). It even put out enough light for me to take a photo with my cell phone, which is saying something, because my cell phone camera sucks in low light.

Garden Light

I think a few more of these need to be bought and stuck out in the garden, and a couple more need to be bought so I can take them apart to use the bits for other things. Can’t believe something so cheap works reasonably well. Guess I’ll have to overlook my Walmart boycott and grab some more soon.

Nature Always Prevails

While most of us know –or should– that nature has a way of working around and adapting to any obstacle put in front of it, it seems to be coming as a surprise to some people that weeds are becoming immune to the deadly effects of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide.

The situation is the worst in the South, where some farmers now walk fields with hoes, killing weeds in a way their great-grandfathers were happy to leave behind. And the problem is spreading quickly across the Corn Belt and beyond, with Roundup now proving unreliable in killing at least 10 weed species in at least 22 states. Some species, like Palmer amaranth in Arkansas and water hemp and marestail in Illinois, grow fast and big, producing tens of thousands of seeds.

Monsanto, of course, insists the problem is being blown out of proportion, but at the same time, they are paying some farmers to help cover the costs of buying additional herbicides to keep their fields free of weeds. Just seems to me that if it weren’t an actual problem, Monsanto (like all major corporations) wouldn’t be willing to hand out money to anyone other than their shareholders.

I look forward to the downfall of Monsanto, their disgusting herbicide, and their genetically modified crops that everyone in the USA is growing these days. It’s going to suck when it happens, as there may be all manner of shortages, but we’ll be well-served by getting back to some diversity in our crop varieties. If we don’t do it on our own, nature will force us to get on the heirloom, open-pollination bandwagon … or come up with even more screwed up GMO crops and fancy poisons. Can’t wait to see if people make the smart choice or take the easy Monsanto-supporting way out when the crap hits the fan and more weeds and plant diseases start laughing at our current efforts to keep them at bay.

People being mostly stupid will no doubt choose to continue paying Monsanto too much money for their precious seeds and nasty poisons, but a girl can hope, right?

Pickles!

Finding myself with a few too many cucumbers than we can eat fresh (happy, happy, joy, joy), I decided today I’d make those long-awaited home-grown pickles!

Here there be pickles!

Found myself with a bit too much brine too, so I went ahead and pickled some onion, garlic, and (home-grown) carrots. Woo hoo!

And of course, I also burnt the hell out of part of my left hand. Had I not been wearing protective gear, it would’ve been worse, but let me tell you, boiling hot water and vinegar is, well, boiling hot. Ouch!

Today’s Harvest!

Today's Harvest

Today's Harvest

Look. Cucumbers. The first ones in years, and there’s more coming! Also two huge tomatoes and one small one to spend some time in the kitchen window finishing up with the ripening (they came off in my hand, so they’re edible now, I imagine), some basil for tonight’s pizza, and two peppers I know are two hot for any human to eat (my lone MILD pepper plant is making peppers too hot for even Lin).

Good harvest today, but will it keep up? Guess I better be happy with what I’ve got!