Living dangerously without leaving home

First there was this. . .

Eeww!!
I don't know why they call it a cute appendicitis?

I won't bore you with details. Suffice to say the ER really needs to rethink customer care and compassion. How about 1/2 the flourescent lights, ditch the frickin' TV and play soft music. Soothing, people, we need soothing when we're illin'. And how about chairs that recline? I would have been much more comfortable waiting the 3 hours if I wasn't huddled under a blanket on a steel chair. Geez. It's not rocket science.
Call me and I won't charge much for a consult.

So today is day 4 post op and I'm gardening and such when what do I see?
cue "Jaws" music

A coral snake slithering across the lawn. No problem usually because they are quite shy and quick to run away, but the cat was just a foot away and what could be more fun than playing with a snake? The "brudders" as I fondly call them, are the two male cats we got as kittens well over a year ago to help with the rat infestation. Yeah, woods rats. Chewing the insulation off the wiring in Stan the van, making a nest in the rigging box and living it up in the giant puppets in the garage, er studio. Rather than poisons we figured cats would do. Well, a year and destroyed home later, (Whoopie! Curtains to climb! Yeehaw! Sofas to shred! Yowza! Toilet paper rolls! Weeee!) we've finally gotten them fixed and let them outside today. What fun they were having until I spied the coral snake approaching. So I sauntered up between the cat and the snake while talking on the phone to my mother in Wisconsin, "Yeah mom, it's red to yellow, kill a fellow, no I'm not going to kill it, it's only about 2 foot long, it'll be fine, yeah, I'm sure it's not a garder snake, " and sure enough the snake slithered the other way under the shrubs and the propane tank. Luckily the cat didn't notice. Whew! Mother Nature is in your face here in Florida. When you look down at the ground, it moves. No matter how many chemicals they spray, powder, bait, and traps they set, pest control is a misnomer.
Bring it on Mother Nature!