Snakes and Magicians

Had a great phone conversation to catch up with my little bro'. He is recovering from a nasssty virus that kicked his arse, the docs thought it was spinal menengitus & gave him a spinal tap to check his "fluids" but could thankfully rule that out. Turns out it's some morph of the swine flu, huge fever & blinding headache, he was a sick little puppy but feeling much better now. It was great to talk to him & we need to plan a trip up there to visit.

Alex called me up this morning because he's BORED. Poor fellow, nothing to do on his fabulous summer vacation. Oh if only we had those troubles!!! I came up with several very good suggestions but they weren't tempting I guess. I stepped outside my office while on the phone with him & I told him "Hey, I'm looking at a very cute snake". He said "I'LL BE RIGHT THERE!", hopped on his bike & pedeled furiously to my work. The snakey was still there & we admired it, took a phone pic, & then wondered if Alex could catch it. "If I catch it, do you guarantee it won't bite?" Uh, NO! But I can guarantee it's not venemous & won't leave any lasting scars. That wasn't good enough. Then our friend Mark stepped out & came over to see what we were up to. He channeled Steve Irwin & was quickly down on all fours poking around under the bush the snake was hiding under. I enjoyed watching both "boys" try to be brave & grab the snake's tail even though the snake was defensive & posing as a fierce critter & even 'striking' at their hands (can I interest you in a lot of false starts & cringes?!!) but finally I swooped in & snagged it, triumphantly holding up my prize which hung limp & docile in my hand. It was a pretty black snake with long yellow stripes, quite fat & sassy, not the biggest garter snake I've seen but good sized. Do you know what the first thing a garter snake does when it's been caught by a predator? I know this from experience, and it was confirmed when this guy (named BUSH) oblidgingly peed on my hand. Or is it poop? Yellow and extremely, I mean really, stinky. But hey, it's one of his few defenses! I handed him to Alex, and yes he peed on his hand too. We admired him & petted him for a bit, marveled at the soft scales & bad odor, & then let him go. Then we went inside for a good hand-washing! After which Alex pedaled back home. It was a very nice morning adventure....

Casey had his fourth day at "Little Beavers Summer Camp" & had a good time. Next week he begins his 4 day/wk swim lessons, whoopee! We came home, picked up Alex & Bear, then headed to our city's Central Park to meet up with some of Casey's school buds. His Little Peeps. They played good & hard, countless kids came up to meet Bear, then Alex tossed some balls for Bear, then we tucked the pup into the shaded car & walked to the library, where all The Little Peeps went to see the Magic Show. This was a "Join the Library Summer Reading Program" event & they had a very fun magic show, the kids thought it was hilarious & he did a great job. Now we're home, relaxing, thinking about wrangling up some sort of dinner, relaxing, wishing daddy was here with us but he's heading home soon.