My anxiety is high right now. It gets like this sometimes at the end of an assignment. I’m having trouble sleeping. It’s nights like these that random thoughts plague me, some rational, some irrational- Taxes, determining arrival date to my next assignment, needing to get a drug screen, the rain gutter that was clogged when I left home, the Aloe Vera plant that I put in the green house (it didn’t tolerate the heat and died), the Crepe Myrtle that I transplanted and nursed for years (but my husband dug it up when he did dirt work around the house), did I pay the water bill at home?….. And of course all of these at a time of the night that absolutely nothing can be done.
It’s hard living here sometimes. The night sounds are so loud and contribute to my insomnia. The street that my apartment complex is located on is heavily utilized for car racing and loud motorcycles. If I were able to close the windows, it probably wouldn’t be so bad, but without air conditioning, closed windows are not an option. The sounds are different at every location that I have been to, and I usually adjust to them, but it has been incredibly hard here.
It is during a sleepless night that I consider the rattle snake threat that will be at my next destination. The last time that I was in the desert, the local veterinarian there told me about the vaccine that Wookie could get just in case he got bit. However, it was a series and we were not there long enough to complete it. They recommended that I carry Benadryl with me at all times. If given immediately, it would “buy” us time to get to a veterinarian. Wookie is older now and I don’t worry so much about his “puppy” curiosity anymore, but I’m not sure he would recognize the danger, either. Would he follow me quickly away from one? If he got bit, would I be able to rescue him? What would I do? Then I take a stroll down memory lane….
When I was a kid, my Pawpaw always carried a “bear killing stick”. They were comparable in size to a trekking pole, but each of them were actually tree limbs that he had carved and whittled on. I remember sitting on the patio while he carved and whittled on wood, often while listening to the baseball game on the radio (I have a key chain fob of my name that he carved out of cedar for me when I was 16 -it is still on my key chain to this day). Mawmaw kicked us out of the house during the day to follow Pawpaw around. We grew up following him around that 200 acres, and he always brought his bear killing stick with him. I have no idea what the real purpose of it was, and I don’t recall him ever using it. When he passed away, we found one that he had carved all of the grandkids’ names on. It is just tonight that I thought about his bear killing stick and the possible value of it while hiking.
I contacted my Dad, hoping that he might have one of them that I could take with me. I was so excited when he informed me that he himself had made several and wanted to know if I wanted one of them. He was able to take it to my house for my husband to pack and bring. I really have no idea if it will come in handy for rattle snake encounters, but it makes me feel better and I think it will be a terrific asset for steep elevations.
Leave a Reply