Why The Air Smells So Sweet

Honeysuckle

Gas Lamps

There is something enormously comforting about the soft glow of a gas lamp. When I was growing up, nearly all the houses in my town had gas lamps in the front yard. It created such a warm light, not like the harsh glare of an electric bulb. I loved riding in the car at night seeing the lamps lit up, like a candle in the window, welcoming those far and near.

But slowly, one by one, the lamps fell into disrepair and were removed. Now only a few homes have them. This one belongs to a neighbor down the street from where I currently live.

And you know, I don't think it's even gas.

The Last Hat

This is the last hat from that particular yarn. This is the smaller size, and as you can see, I had enough left over to make pom poms for this hat and one other. I've now found another pattern, and have started a new hat.

Ok, about Scarlett....I've been posting over on Cornsnakes.com about her condition. This morning, I got this post from Kathy Love.

So sorry you are still having problems...
4 regurges are A LOT. I normally would be really guarded about the prognosis after that many, but the fact that she is still healthy, strong, and in good weight gives hope yet for a recovery. Also, the fact that she did very well until the feeding of 2 pinks is
a good sign too. Since you already have tried just pinkie heads without success, I would go to a few liquid feedings via syringe, along with Nutri Bac. I would use cooked egg yolk (no sense in adding more Salmonella than she already has!), meat baby food, or a cat food pate', or some mixture of those. Strain them through a tea strainer to make sure they will go through the tube, adding a little water to make it go through a little easier. If she is hatchling sized, I would give 1 cc of the mixture (with a pinch of NB mixed in). More if she is bigger. Sit down and put her tail between your knees, holding her upright in a vertical position, and keep her vertical for a minute or two after the feed so it doesn't come back up. Have a friend help if you need it. Repeat every 4 days or so. The liquid should be very easy to digest. If she can't digest even that, then she has some serious problems and the vet may need to do some cultures. If she digests it ok, then keep it up for at least 2 or 3 weeks (with a good pinch of NB each time) before trying another pinkie head. That should give her some strength and maybe get her digestive tract back in balance a little. If you can't find a feeding tube online, maybe the vet can help. If you are nervous about tube feeding, maybe the vet can demonstrate, if he feels it is a good idea. As long as you avoid the opening in the bottom of the mouth (where the snake breathes), and keep it vertical for a minute or two, it should be pretty safe. What you are doing isn't working, so unless the vet has a different treatment, you are likely to lose the snake if you continue on the same treatment plan. BTW, I have never found bloodreds to be particularly susceptible to regurges, although each family line may be different. Hope it helps - let us know what happens. Good luck!

__________________Kathy LoveCornutopia.comkathy@cornutopia.com

Now, if you're not involved in the cornsnake world, you may not have heard of Kathy Love. Let me clue you in...

Kathy Love is one of the top cornsnake breeders in the world. She and her husband have been breeding cornsnakes for some 30 something years, and are responsible for many of the new color morphs out there. For her to answer my questions is like Bill Gates calling you personally if your PC crashes. My first thought was, "Wow Kathy Love!!!" But I shouldn't think that way. She is not like that. She has answered many a call and e-mail about cornsnake problems--not from me, but from other members of the cornsnake keeper community. My second thought was, "FINALLY!!! Some practical advice!" I took it, too. I found some feeding tubes online and promptly ordered them. I paid the extra for priority mail--though shipping only totalled $5, and stopped by the store on the way home and bought some baby food chicken. I already have eggs in the fridge (I don't know why, I can't eat them), and the Nutribac she mentioned. If this doesn't help Scarlett, well, it's time to begin thinking about putting her down.

You can read the entire thread here. I don't think you have to register just to read, but I'm not sure.

Now, on to more entertaining news....

One day last week, James and I were texting each other on our cell phones. At one point, I tried to type in "YUP", but the autocomplete on my phone spelled out "ZUR". I thought it was funny, so I sent it on to him anyway. He thought it was funny, too, so he sent it on to some other people, including her. She didn't think it was so funny, because when she got to class, she told sensei that James was sending her vulgar things on the phone and harrassing her. Totally rediculous behavior...(Good thing we didn't send her "riddledats".)

Yesterday I sent James the following message:

"Zur! Zur! I'm harassing you! Zur! Zur!"

He responded with:

"Stop! Stop, or I'll tell sensei!"

To which I responded:

"Zur! Zur! I'm not gonna stop, and if you tell sensei I"ll cry!"

Such silly people we are...

Hats Galore

I finished this hat last night. It is just like the other, except in a slightly larger size. I've got enough of this color yarn to make one more, and maybe some pom poms for the little ones. I bought three John Wayne movies out of the $5 bin at Wal-mart last week and haven't watched a single one. We've been watching the first season of The Waltons, and finished it last night. We do have the second season, but I'm getting kind of tired of that show.

Scarlett left me a relatively good sized poo this morning. That means she got a little nutrition out of her mouse before the regurge. It's almost like her digestive system gets tired half way through. The medicine I'm giving her is supposed to help strengthen the muscles of the digestive system. The Grapefruit Seed Extract is supposed to keep her bacteria in the correct balance, and the Nutribac adds beneficial bacteria and enzymes. I forgot to add the Nutribac when I fed her Friday. I'm going to make sure to remember this time. Maybe that was they key. Maybe the combination of the three will lick this vomiting thing once and for all.

I won't give up, though I do get discouraged sometimes. I won't give up as long as she has life in her.

Scarlett

Scarlett regurgitated her pinky head after 23 hours.

I'm almost resigned to the idea that she will die. I'm not completely giving up. I'm going to continue with the GSE in her water, and the Nutribac and medicine in her food. But usually, once they get into a pattern of regurging, they continue to do so until they essentially starve to death.

Since it is obviously not the SIZE of the food item that is causing her to regurge, I may try to feed her something a little larger next week. I just wish I knew what it was.

It breaks my heart, though. Bloodreds are my dream morph. I wanted one so badly, and now this happens.

A Decision

I went ahead and fed Scarlett last night. I gave her a pinky head injected with the anti-vomiting medicing the vet gave her. It didn't leave a lump at all in her tummy. So far, it's been 9 hours and she's held it down. I'm keeping my fingers crossed....

HodgePodge

When I was a kid, there used to be a show on TV called Hodgepodge Lodge. I don't remember what it was about, but I do remember I liked the sound of the name.

But what exactly is a hodgepodge? I had a definition in my head, but I wondered if it was the right one, so I looked it up in a couple of different places.

This is from Funk & Wagnall's Desk Standard Dictionary, 1925 edition:

Hodgepodge, n. Same as HOTCHPOTCH--a pudding made of many mixed ingredients.

This is from BrainyDictionary Online:

Hodgepodge A mixed mass; a medley. See Hotchpot.

And from Dictionary.com:

hodge·podge n. A mixture of dissimilar ingredients; a jumble. [Alteration of Middle English hochepot, from Old French, stew. See hotchpot.]

hodgepodge n 1: a motley assortment of things [syn: odds and ends, oddments, melange, farrago, ragbag, mishmash, mingle-mangle, hotchpotch, omnium-gatherum] 2: a theory or argument made up of miscellaneous or incongruous ideas [syn: patchwork, jumble]

Funny how the definitions change over the years.

On to other news...

I received the Grapefruit Seed Extract yesterday and began putting it into Scarlett's water. I'm beginning to get really worried about her. She doesn't really seem to be losing much weight, and she is still pretty active at night, but she seems to be slowing down some. She seems kind of listless to me. I just wish she could hold her meals down. She needs nutrition. Wednesday will be 10 days from her last regurge, but I'm thinking of trying to feed her tomorrow or Sunday. It's a debate, though. If I do feed her and she regurges again, I'll be kicking myself forever. But what if she doesn't? What if the medicine the doctor gave her works? Decisions, decisions....

Only in this case, it could be a matter of life and death.

A Quiet Place

To sit and enjoy the outdoors, or maybe read a bit.

The book I read last week was Not Without My Daughter, by Betty Mahmoody with William Hoffer. For those of you who've seen the movie, let me say this--it barely scratched the surface of what this woman went through. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, male or female.

Apparently the letters I sent to the school haven't done any good. Cody was horribly tormented by this same kid today. This morning, he had his school ID torn up again. On the afternoon run, the student blew a loogie on him. I called the guy who is over the bus drivers, and he said he would "discuss" it with Cody's bus driver. Like that'll do any good. The driver doesn't like Cody, so he tends to turn his head while all this is going on. I told Mr. Bonner that, too.

What we've started doing is documenting what is going on. Nobody seems to want to do anything to stop the bullying, but I will raise HELL until they do.

Azaleas

At the Memphis Zoo. My own azaleas haven't done anything this year--not even a bud. I think they must be in a bad location. I bought them because I read that they do well in shady places, but apparently someone got his facts mixed up or something. They've always bloomed later than everyone elses, and this year they didn't do anything. They are getting plenty big, just no flowers. I'm thinking about buying some more and planting them along the back of the house where they will get more sun. Maybe they'll do better there.


Scarlett pooped this morning--well sometime last night. It was just a little poop, but it was something. That means she got a little nutrition from the pinky head I fed her Saturday. It also means her digestive system is still working--if she can keep enough down to digest. She's still plenty active, though and doesn't appear to have lost too much weight.

I haven't heard anything back from Dr. A, so maybe the herpitologist he consulted is in agreement with the treatment we are trying.

Why is it always the special ones that have you pulling your hair out?

Another FO

I found this nifty little hat pattern, and it only takes about 2 oz of yarn. I knitted this one up yesterday while watching TV. It only took a few hours total knitting time, and it will be great for using up small bits of yarn.

Now an update on Scarlett. I fed her Saturday, just a pinky head. Sunday she regurged about half of it. So today I took her to the vet.

It was kind of amusing because Dr Abernathy couldn't find a vet tech who would come in and help him. They were watching from the door, but wouldn't come any closer. I asked them what they would do if I brought one of my big snakes in, and they said they'd watch from the door.

Anyway, Dr A didn't think she had a bacterial infection, because he said she just looked TOO healthy. She is still active and alert and has good muscle tone. He thought she might have a parasite, so he gave her a dose of Ivermectin, which is an animal wormer. I had to hold her so he could give it to her because the techs were watching from the door. He also gave me an anti-vomiting medicine to inject into her mice.

He did call the herpetologist at the Veterinary college in Jackson, but got his voice mail. He said he'd talk it over with him once he got through and if the herpetologist told him anything different, he'd let me know.

So that's where we stand now. I'll continue to post updates.

Bullies

One day last week, Cody came home literally in tears. He'd had a very rough time on the bus ride home. I'd just about had enough of this, so I called Mr. Craven, Cody's assistant principal. He basically told me he couldn't--or wouldn't--do anything about it. If the offending children don't go to the middle school, he can't do anything to them. So Cody is pretty much at their mercy.

I promptly sat down and wrote him a nice long letter detailing some of the things Cody has had to put up with on the bus. I also sent a copy to Mr. Carson--who is over the busses, and Mr. Bonner--who is over the bus drivers. I told Cody to give those copies to his bus driver to deliver. This must have shook the driver up, because the next day when Cody was slapped on the bus, he punched the guy back and the driver didn't say anything to him. He doesn't like Cody, so tends to turn a blind eye to what goes on to him.

Anyway, I decided to expand the letter a bit and send it to the editor of the local newspaper. Not to sound braggadocious, but I was rather pleased with how it turned out. I don't know if it will get published or not, but here is the letter in its entirety:

Bullied to the Breaking Point



April 22, 2006

One day last week, I heard on the radio that the authorities had narrowly averted another school shooting. I forget where it was this time.

I wonder sometimes, could such a thing happen in Grenada?

It got me thinking. What is the one thing the shooters at Columbine High, Paducah, KY., Pearl, MS., Jonesboro AR., etc. —have in common? Poor home life? Perhaps. Uninvolved parents? Maybe. But the one thing they all definitely had in common is that those shooters had been bullied incessantly at school. Every day, they had been teased and tormented, mocked and made fun of. Punched. Slapped. Ridiculed. Bullied to the breaking point.

The same kind of thing goes on in Grenada schools—both public and private. Bullying.

I am very concerned about the amount of bullying that is going on, particularly on the school buses. My son rides the bus. He has to. I have no other way to get him to school.

He hates it.

He comes home in tears nearly every day because of the treatment he receives at the hands of bullies on the bus. He shouldn’t have to. He shouldn’t have to put up with this tormenting. He should not feel like he has to fight for his life just to get to and from school. Yet he does.

In ONE WEEK’S time he was hit, slapped, punched--by more than one person, spat on, ridiculed, called names, had his homework thrown out the window (which, according to his teacher, is no excuse for not having it, and yes, he did get a 0 for that day), had someone attempt to look down his pants, had his fingers repeatedly smashed, and had to listen to insults about his mother. (That would be me.)

In the past, he has also been cursed at, threatened, had his personal property stolen from him and/or thrown out the window, had his nose bloodied—multiple times, had his lip split, had gum stuck in his hair, had things thrown at him, had his school ID torn up (I had to pay $5.00 to get him a new one), had someone try to take his pants down, and had someone attempt to strangle him with his ID lanyard.

He has had high school boys hold him down so the little kids could take turns hitting him.

This has got to stop.

No one should have to put up with this kind of bullying. My belief is that those who stand by and allow such behavior to continue are just as guilty as the bullies themselves. Perhaps school authorities have been unaware of the situation, though I doubt it, but they can no longer claim ignorance. We need to take action. We need to have cameras on the busses all the time, not just at random intervals. We need to take disciplinary action against those who bully and teach smaller children to bully. We need to have bus marshals on the busses for each and every bus run. We need to do whatever it takes to stop this bullying, NOW.

Before Grenada, Mississippi is added to the list.

....................................................

Later...

While perusing the newspaper website to find the editor's address, I ran across a wonderful bit of news. It has us all doing the happy dance here in my house. I know you're anxious to know what this information is that is causing us all to celebrate. Well, I'll tell you.

*Strains of the Hallelujah corus waft through the background.*

DR. WHITE IS LEAVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, an FO

A scarf made from stash yarn. I don't have a specific recipient in mind.

While I was in Wal-mart yesterday, I saw some Bernat Boa on clearance, but I was good and didn't buy any. I'm trying to use up my stash before buying any new yarn. And I've got a lot of stash to use up. I was thinking about doing several projects from stash and sending them to Deana and Nathan in Alaska. Maybe they can use them in their ministry up there. Or maybe donate them to a charity of some sort.

I have been doing my DAUB exercises, but we're kind of back to the basics--basic lines, circles, elipses, etc. Nothing exciting enough to post.

I fed Scarlett today--just a pinky head coated in Nutribac. It left a HUGE lump in her tummy. I'm praying she keeps it down. If she doesn't, I don't know what else I can do.

Lesson

It does you no good to get to sleep an hour later in the mornings if you stay up half the night reading a book.

I should be through with the book by this weekend, and I'll be sure to deliver a thorough report on it.

Meanwhile, here is something a to whet your appetite a little, but not for books:


In just a few weeks, these delicate white blossoms will be blackberries. That means blackberry cobbler, blackberry pie, blackberries and cream, blackberry muffins...

My Son Is Deathly Afraid of These

And for good reason. He is deathly allergic to them. It was a year ago this month that we made a frantic trip to the emergency room with Cody going into anaphlactic shock. It started so quickly, too; within 10 minutes of getting stung he was swelling up. Now we never leave the house without Benadryl and have Epi-pens in both the house and car.

Marsha

In response to yesterday's post, Marsha commented, "At least it was dead on the road and not alive in the house. "

Marsha, dear Marsha, these are alive and in the house.

Slider

Sunset

Snow

Scarlett

Monty

Onyx

Blaze

Since we are on the subject, I found some more poo in Scarlett's tank when I was changing her water today. Just a little poo, but poo nonetheless. That means she still had a little bit of food left in her from last time she ate Just a few more days until I try to feed her again. I'll only give her a pinky head this time, rolled in Nutribac. At night when the lights go out, she is out and about, actively exploring her little tank. I'm really optimistic that she will pull through this and be able once again to hold her food down.

Changing the subject, sensei is going to try to schedule our Shodan grading for June 3. We just need the board to confirm the date. I did manage to get vacation for that weekend, so I won't blow my perfect attendance. I just might make it this time.