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:

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!

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.

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.