Its Not Nice To Fool With Mother Nature

Before the crowds came

  After our adventure with zip line, we headed over to the water park.  It would be our last full day there.  I could not believe how crowded it was.  Saturday, on the 4th of July weekend...I should have expected it.  Normally I don't do well in crowds.  Maybe it was the fact that we kept moving...tube ride to outside pool to lazy river to hot tub...I wasn't anxious at all.  But just to be safe, my husband held my hand and guided me through the maze of the wet slippery bodies of total strangers (many of whom were just begging for a health and fitness program).  It wasn't a pretty sight, believe me.  Anyway, we were there a good three hours, before we decided it was time to go.  We went up to arcade to play a few last chance games, then left.
   On the way out to car, I had a bit of an incident.  Not wanting to get the car seat wet, I wrapped my towel around my waist like a skirt when we left the building.  Every other day of our vacation, we had walked along the sidewalk of the parking lot.  For some reason, today, we took a short cut and walked through the grass.  When I sat down in the car, I felt a burning sensation under my thigh.  My initial thought was that the car was really hot.  So, I adjusted the towel.  There, wrapped in my towel was a yellow jacket.  And I had been stung.  OMG...It was like a fire poker.  It must have come up from the grass, and flown up my towel.
   I thought back to my younger years.  All the times I'd gone barefoot...I must have stepped on near a dozen of those bothersome creatures.  Yes, I'd been stung then too, but well...I was just in the way of mother nature doing her thing.  My memory of bees, wasps, yellow jackets, etc. has faded.  I assumed it would just keep on stinging me if I didn't get it unwrapped from the towel.  Yes, so I could kill it.  Sorry, but I was hurting, angry, and growing more and more anxious every minute it was there.  I shook it to the floor and stepped on it, but the little bastard didn't die.  My son, who had claimed the front seat of the truck was peaking around, "Still alive", he says every time I stomped.  I watched it on the floor.  It just kept pumping its little yellow jacket butt like it was still trying to sting me.  Persistent little devil.  So, I kept stomping.  Eventually, it did stop moving.  I could breathe easier, but my leg was swelling up quickly from the poison.
  When we got back to the room, Angie gave me Benadryl.  Brian gave me Tylenol.  My youngest, gave me his first aid expertise (he is a boy scout after all).  He looked the yellow jacket and its sting on his dad's droid phone just to show me a picture of what to expect..."See, there is is.  It says to wash thoroughly with soap and water. "  I said, "When I was a kid, we used meat tenderizer."  He reads further, "Oh yeah, and it says here you can use meat tenderizer."  By now, I felt pretty ridiculous.  A shower helped.  And the Benadryl worked wonders.
   We went out to dinner in a nearby town.  I couldn't help but feel like the stinger was still in my leg.  And my thigh muscle was tightening around the injury.  Before long, I was actually limping.  At dinner, I had a seven and seven.  I know...alcohol and medicine do not mix.  Hey, I was wounded!  It worked.  I felt better or at least more numb.  : )
   It was dark when we got back to the resort.  We were nearing the condo, when a car stopped in front of us.  This happened a lot, so it didn't surprise us.  Folks frequently stopped for deer, ground hogs, even turtles.  We patiently kept our distance until whatever it was had passed.  Then, the car backs up, and we see it in their headlights.  There was a snake one the other side of the road.  All of a sudden, the driver swerves over into the other lane and purposely drives over the snake.  What a jerk!  Now, I have to tell you, I had an incredible urge to get out of the car, walk over, and slap that fool up side the head.  That snake wasn't hurting anyone.   He/She was just going about their snake business (yes, snakes have business) and he just had to kill it.  All of a sudden, I felt guilty for killing the yellow jacket.
   When we got back to the room, all I wanted to do was lay down.  My hip and my knee were hurting like I had just climbed Mount Everest, the sting stung even worse than before, the Benadryl/seven and seven mixer was making me drowsy, and to top it off, I was a bit disturbed over the snake.  So, I went to bed.  The others played cards late into the night.
   In the morning, I felt fine.  It was as if it had never happened (the yellow jacket, that is).  I am still a bit upset about the snake.  Once, when I was a teenager, I came close to stepping on a rattlesnake in the woods.  I remember how it froze believing it was camouflaged.  I guess that little snake was thinking, "If I don't move, she won't see me".  I walked right past it.  I wouldn't even have known it was there if someone hadn't turned me around and pointed it out to me.
   I guess if that snake had struck at me, I might feel different about them now.  But it didn't.  It just went about its snake business.  I know the snakes, the yellow jackets, they are all part of nature.  When we venture into their home, we should respect them.  So, next time I am confronted with nature striking back, I might think first before I stomp.  Then again, why was that yellow jacket peeking up my towel skirt in the first place?  Hmmmm.....