Monday 24 June 2019

Rock gardens, snakes and mighty gales

Such is life in Betty's Bay, good morning all.  Well ..... It was quite a week in one way or the other, definitely not dull or for the faint hearted haha.  Where to start ?   At the beginning I guess, the week started off as any other, a mild weathered, non eventful week consisting of daily chores (why do they never come to an end?) and the normal routine.  For some unknown reason all that was short lived especially when my Darling Hubby decided to tackle the proposed rock garden. We had been given a number of cacti plants and earmarked a section right outside Jelly Bean's bedroom window as being perfect for a rock garden.  So, armed with the necessary tools and what-have-you he got down to business, pulling up grass and preparing the bed.  I was busy at the time doing my nails so all was peaceful until, Hubby came stumbling in the door holding his hand and saying he had been bitten/stung and it was a excruciating.  Well ..... I flew into action, Jelly Bean joined in as we tried to figure out what had  'stung' him, first off we looked for a sting - nothing, then put his hand under hot water as at that point I thought he had been stung by a centipede.  We have both millipedes (shongololo's) and centipedes down here together with scorpions and all sorts of other nasties.  From experience we know that the centipede sting is unbelievably sore from when Poppet was stung. I think it was the not knowing that got me in a tizz, ice only made the pain worse and it seemed that hot  water was the best.  After a little while it settled down and apart from a small hole Hubby seemed to be fine and his finger was not swollen with no red lines or other marks, so after a rest and lunch he went back out, this time with garden gloves and on going back to the spot he found a small snake all curled up under the grass, before he could catch it or take a photo it disappeared.  Now after much input and advice from locals we have concluded he was bitten by a young Mole Snake.  Needless to say this episode has led to a couple of decisions.  Never work in the garden without gloves. Have an Anaphylactic on hand in the house.  What treatment is necessary for the various 'nasties' and lastly we have read up and learnt how to distinguish venomous and non venomous snakes.  Thank the Lod Hubby is 100% fine, our new rock garden looks lovely and my second hand of manicure is not quite as good as the first LOL.

Well, as you can imagine that kind of caused quite an adrenaline rush for us all which had no sooner subsided than a massive cold front swept in bringing with it gale force winds of about 100kmph and not quite as much rain as predicted, we had lovely rain, just not enough.  Thankfully the weather alerts had prepared us and we were ready and prepared, we kept the fire blazing and settled in with good books and generally enjoyed a relaxing weekend. That is until Jelly Bean and I needed to drive into Kleinmond yesterday morning, we got into my car and ...... click, the battery was dead ARRGGHHH.  Not deterred I asked my ever patient Hubby for a jump start and off we toddled thinking that the drive in would be sufficient to charge said battery.  We got to the shop, parked and went in (completely forgetting the blasted battery), came out and ... you guessed it CLICK!!!  We had the jumper cables in the car so I asked an older gentleman if he would give me a start, shame he was so sweet and so old.  Nevertheless he turned his car around and I got the cables only out to discover they were too short, not a problem as another chap said he had cables and promptly got them out and joined the two sets.  We opened my hood and on looking inside I rememberd my car - Picasso has the battery under the passenger seat, BUT I had just seen my Hubby start the car from the engine so located the plus points......... OMS!  We had sparks and fun and games until eventually I just said thanks to all but to leave it before we totally messed up the batteries.  I put in a distress call to my personal mechanic who came charging through in his white steed of '6 horses', turns out we were creating a direct short by putting both cables on the two points, one had to be earthed #facepalm.  I now know how to jump start my car and or charge the battery.  EISH....... Enough excitement already.

Apart from all the fun and games the family are all good and busy with their lives, Miss Muffet got a beautiful little kitten as an early birthday present and all our four legged children are well.

Folks as that pretty much sums up my week I am going to say ciao ciao for now.  I am praying for a peace filled week of good health and abundance for both my family and yours.  Please stay safe out there and spread some kindness wherever you go.

Photo taken by BigBear last week at sunset in Sea Point.

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