Well, It Happened

This morning there was a coral snake in the garden--just what I had been dreading. Regular readers will remember that I dug up all the moisture-loving banana trees when I learned that coral snakes are attracted to the dampness. I had earnest hopes that eliminating the banana trees would send the coral snakes slithering off to more favorable venues. Unfortunately, my luck ran out today.

If you look closely at the picture, you will notice that there is something missing from this snake--the head. Yes, I decapitated it with a garden shovel. I was shaking so hard I don't know how I was able to score a direct hit.

You might wonder why this extreme visceral reaction. First of all, I have never been a fan of snakes, but the reality is that the coral snake is the most venomous North American reptile. I first read about the coral snake in my trusty Boy Scout Handbook (1957 edition). There were no color pictures, but I learned then the ditty I recited (aloud) this morning when I came across the snake: "Red and yellow kill a fellow; red and black a friend of Jack." The red ring next to the yellow ring is the pattern you do not want to spot in the wild. To my knowledge, I had never set eyes on a living coral snake before (even in a zoo) but I knew immediately what had slithered into my garden for a drink of water.

As I remember from the Scout handbook, the venom from the coral snake is the only native venom that attacks the autonomic nervous system. The good news ascertained from a Google search is that no deaths from coral snakes have been reported for many years. The reality, however, is that they are very dangerous.

Sure hope this is my one and only encounter!

Flood?

Tonight my neighbor told me that his wife (who works for the town of New Braunfels) is working with a group at City Hall to prepare for a flood! You have to know that we are in the grip of a terrible drought, and the thought of a flood is almost laughable. History shows, however, that there is a pattern of floods after droughts in this area. The reason has something to do with El Niño. Since I have never understood how El Niño works, I will have to take it on faith that this is true. I guess I should be pleased that city officials are planning ahead, but at a time that we are desperate for rain, it does seem something of a stretch to think of a flood! Having seen the destruction caused by the last great flood in this area (the Canyon Lake gorge that I wrote about several months ago), I know indeed that floods do happen--even in Central Texas--and that they can be very destructive.

I am still working on my bookcases, so I will hold off ark building at the present time.

Books

Books are both a blessing and a burden. There are few pleasures like holding a new book in one's hands--a pleasure I have experienced countless times in my life of buying and reading books and building my library. I think I can safely say that though I migrated from records to tapes to CDs, I will never make the move from books to electronic readers. Curl up with a Kindle? I don't think so!

On the other hand, books are heavy and bulky. Nothing will impress this fact on one's mind like a cross-country move. So last fall over many weeks I packed box after box of books--a lifetime of collecting--to transport them to our new home in Texas. The only thing that makes packing and carrying thousands of pounds of books possible is that you do it one carton at a time.

The estimate for having custom-made bookcases built and installed in the study in our new house was unrealistic, so we left the books in boxes. Now the time has come to unpack--and the joy/pain begins. After a trip to Ikea we found good, sturdy (and affordable) bookcases. I have now spent one week lugging the materials upstairs, assembling the bookcases, and opening box after box of precious books.

Opening up the cartons is a little like Christmas morning over and over. Each box held at least one special book that I had not seen in months--almost like greeting old friends. But there is no way they will all fit. After all, the books previously lined the walls of both an office at the college and the walls of our loft. Now they must be accommodated in a single room. The hard work is almost over and now the really hard work begins! Which books to keep in view on the shelves, which to box up for a decision later, and which to begin to dispose of right away?

It's time to put the decisions aside for awhile and curl up with a good book.

A Theatrical Weekend

We had a theatrical weekend! First, on Friday we attended the opening of "The Sound of Music" at the San Pedro Playhouse in San Antonio (musical director, ahem, our son). It was wonderful! I had not expected such lavish sets and costumes, and the voices were in tune, on key, and loud enough to hear on the back row. The cake and champagne after the performance were a fitting end to a marvelous production.

Then on Saturday we went back to San Antonio for a performance of "Take Me Out" in the intimate black box theatre at the playhouse. We had seen this effective drama on Broadway when it first came out, and I was curious to see how a regional community theatre would handle a play with some challenging theatrics. Most of the play takes place in a baseball locker room and shower. The showers actually worked! Real water! The cast was clearly up to the task of a play which is at times raucous and at times somber as it deals with the tricky subject of homophobia in athletics.

What a great weekend's entertainment!

It's Really Hot

We are in the midst of a killer heat wave. Unfortunately, weather gurus are comparing this heat wave to the heat of the 1950s--a pattern that lasted about 7 years, as I remember. The difference between now and 50 years ago? Well, there are a lot of differences. Air conditioning then was a novelty, not a fact of life. The one place that you could count on as being air conditioned was a movie theatre. Of course, when the movie ended, you had to drive home, where it was still hot. And in the 1950s I was just a kid and had that resiliency of childhood. Nevertheless, I remember those summers as miserable, and the heat here now has gone beyond unfomfortable to miserable. The weather forecasters say that there is a giant high pressure cell directly over the central part of the country, and there is nothing in sight that will nudge it away to let cool air come in.

And did I mention that it is dry? There are various classifications of drought--from "dry" to the most severe--"exceptional drought." We are now in the last, worst category: this drought is exceptional. We are spdnding a lot of our time keeping our new plantings alive and then retreating to the house where it is, mercifully, cool.

Found a Bagel!

Yes, it's true. We just found bagels (at Costco, of all places). I did not know that bagels were not national until we moved here. After all, we could get Tex-Mex food in New England so it is natural to assume that bagels would be available in Central Texas. Presumably Texans have not developed a taste for bagels--at least not the ones in our neck of the Hill Country--as this is the first bagel I have seen since we left Connecticut. Maybe if someone suggested a jalapeño bagel the idea would take off?

July Trips

Whew--it is good to be back home (even if home is an oven right now). We have had two great family trips over the past couple of weeks.

First it was a family reunion of family on my mother's side--37 people from all across the US celebrating the hardy Swedish pioneers who left for a better life in the new world in the 19th century. I had heard stories of our pioneer ancestors from my mother all my life, but I learned even more of these brave souls who left everything in Sweden to take their chances in a new land. I had never known that my great grandmother and grandfather made the voyage with 4 sons and that a new child was born only six weeks after they arrived. I knew that they did not speak English, but I never knew that they were headed to Iowa and somehow ended up in western Kansas. Their story was very moving, and re-connecting with family was really fun.

Over the past weekend we were at the Grand Lake of the Cherokees with our son and his family at the lake house of his inlaws. I think we spent more time in or on the lake than on dry land! I learned how to drive a jet ski! And I learned that they do tip over!

Good Summer Read

I just finished reading John Grisham's The Testament--not a new book, but new to me. What a fun book for summer. The plot reminded me at times of C.S. Forster's The African Queen, which I read in high school. And then there was the Bogart-Hepburn film version to remember as well. At other times the book recalls Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and, of course, the film version, "Apocalypse Now." This river voyage was neither in Africa nor Viet Nam but the swampy area between Brazil and Bolivia, the streams and tributaries that flow into the Paraguay River.

Lawyers are featured prominently--as always in a Grisham novel--but also missionaries. The story is in many ways more about redemption and salvation than it is about the legal business. Thanks to a leisurely afternoon at the pool today, I was able to finish before starting on a road trip tomorrow.