Snakes

Just blew back into town after a quick trip to see the family. I was barely gone 24 hours, and eight hours of that was spent on the road, driving. Add another eight hours for sleeping and well, like I said, it was a quick trip.

But I needed to put in appearance at my future brother-in-law's surprise birthday party, and I knew that Mom and Dad really wanted to see me before I left for the west coast. They will worry about me while I'm gone.

Had a little excitement as I was walking the dog around the yard this morning. I saw a snake. It didn't move, so I thought/hoped it was dead, but my mom sprayed it with the hose (from a very safe distance of 40 feet or so) and it moved, so she called my dad out to kill it. I said to just let it be - it wasn't that big, and as long as it wasn't a rattlesnake, I wasn't worried. But I'm not the one who goes out there and hangs clothes on the line, sometimes barefoot, so Mom prevailed.

I haven't seen a snake in a long, long time. And I'm not sure I could have killed it myself. Dad pinned it down with the hoe, but he didn't quite finish it off until I brought him the shovel and he was able to thoroughly squash it between the metal blades. I did my part by carrying the shovel across the road and laying it on the shoulder to rot in the blazing sun.

I probably wouldn't have lasted long on the prarie.

I'm getting excited about my trip, although I am feeling angst about all the stuff I haven't done for these stupid fund raisers I agreed to help with. Why didn't I just say no? I think it was because I thought if I wasn't working, I needed to have something to do to keep me busy, and certainly these are the types of things I know how to do.

The only thing I forgot is that I hate doing fund raising.

Screw it. I'm going to do what I can in the next 48 hours and then everyone be damned. I'll be on a plane headed west and I won't be back for nearly two weeks. But don't worry - the laptop is coming with me, as is the digital camera and the cell phone. Oh yes, you're coming with me! It's gonna be great.