SNAKES ALIVE!

After a long hiatus from geocaching, the GeoKidz and I finally had a chance to jump back into our favorite game/sport/obsession this weekend! Saturday, we attended the monthly meeting of the Georgia Geocacher’s Association, which was held this month at Little Mulberry Park in Dacula.

The feature presentation this month was given by Dr. Mark Patterson of the Georgia herpetological Society, with assistance from his slithery friends, the snakes.  Not just any snakes, mind you… but snakes that are native to and prevelent in our backyards (literally) here in Gwinnett and Walton counties.  He brought out some really beautiful critters, such as the black rat snake, the red rat snake (a/k/a “corn snakes”), the pine snake and even a small copperhead. (Don’t worry, the copperhead was kept in a sturdy plexiglass box the entire time!)

Photo Courtesy of The Georgia Geocacher's Association (www.ggaonline.org)

Dr. Patterson provided a wealth of information about these species.  He discussed their habitats, what they feed on (mostly rats and mice, so they are actually good to have around. Since we now live in a very old farmhouse in a big ole meadow… I’m good with that. 😉 ), and what to do if you encounter a snake (screaming and running may be understandable, but unless it’s venomous, don’t kill it!).  Did you know that one lone rat snake can curtail the rat/mouse population in its immediate area by over 19,000 rodents a year???? Before you aim that gun, think of all 19,000 of those mice moving into your home in the absence of their crowd-controlling predator!

Dr. Patterson also discussed what to do if you are bitten by a venomous snake.  First, don’t panic and run.  Panicking and running will increase your heart rate and your adrenaline production – both of which will only serve to speed up the spread of the venom throughout your body. Definitely not what you want to happen!  Call 911 and do your best to stay calm.  Do not apply a tourniquet, and do not do the old “cutting into the wound and sucking out the poison” routine you’ve heard about your whole life.  All that does is make you bleed more and introduce a whole slew of new germs into your wound, greatly increasing your chances of infection.

The good news, according to Dr. Patterson, is that an extremely small number of people actually die each year from snake bits.  I cannot recall the exact statistics, but the number is actually quite miniscule.  So, the good news is that if you get bit, chances are you will make it just fine, so long as you seek prompt medical attention.  Folks who have a much higher risk of complications from snake bites are the very young, the very old, and people with fragile immune systems.  (Side note to any EMS folks out there…feel free to chime in on this in the comments and correct, add to, or otherwise expound on this info. You know WAY more than I do about this stuff!!!)

All in all, it was a fantastic meeting.  The GeoKidz and I had a great time.  We also kicked butt in the raffle following the snake presentation. GeoKid2 won a key chain for his collection, and I won a nifty little tote bag with the Georgia Geocacher’s Association logo on the front.  We also met many other geocachers, some of whom we’ve “met” online discussing caches and events, but never in person.

After the meeting, the GeoKids and I went out in search of geocaches.  It’s been too many months since we’d done so, and were just itching to get back into it. 🙂 We found one on Saturday, and then three on Sunday afternoon… including that pesky one hidden at the Oasis Bowling alley that we’ve searched for over the course of at least six months! And yes…we’d walked right past it a trillion times and somehow missed it. Till yesterday! Ha!

Sunday afternoon, we also went to Tribble Mill Park, which is a veritable gold mine of geocaches. We finished finding the last two of a series of caches honoring John Wayne: The Good (which we found on 01/02/11), The Bad, and The Ugly.  The kids really enjoyed searching these out.  As we walked back to the car, my eight-year-old GeoKid said very seriously, “I love nature.  It’s all beautiful and stuff!”

And that’s what it’s all about. 🙂

Happy hunting, everyone!

My Weekend Quest

Yay, it is FINALLY Friday! Thank You, God! 😀 Yesterday was my birthday (I’m old now, 38 – LOL!) and it was a good one.  Thanks to Facebook, I received well over 100 birthday greetings which made me feel all loved & stuff. 🙂 Then, one of my attorneys I work for (and three paralegals) took me to lunch at the new restaraunt in our building.  It was delicious!!!! In fact, I was so stuffed, I didn’t even eat dinner last night… yummy! After I picked up the kids from daycare, I treated myself to not cooking – got them happy meals instead, LOL!We got their Valentine’s cards done for the class parties they are having today, they did their homework, got their baths, etc… I was able to have some actual PEACE AND QUIET, got some reading done, some prayers prayed,  and by 9:30-ish I was snoozing away peacefully.  Nothing like falling asleep early, which almost never happens!  It was fantastic.  So, thanks to everyone for making my birthday great!

When scoping out my weekend, I initially thought that any Geocaching would happen on Saturday only. And Saturday afternoon, at that.  Saturday morning, I have to meet some ladies for a Bible Study group I’m considering joining. After that, I have to run to Snap Fitness to sign my membership agreement and get The Tour.  I am only going to be a member for the next two months or so (not something I can afford long-term) until I get thru this half-marathon I’ve signed up for.  Those of you who have known me for a while know I signed up to do a half-marathon with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program, to help raise $$$ for cancer research and to help families who are currently in the fight.  Well, weather and illness (three+ months of bronchitis) have conspired against me, along with my hectic schedule & commute.  The only way I’m gonna be able to get the rest of my training done is if I have access to a treadmill.   Santa brought me a GPS, not a treadmill (yay for GPS, it was alos on my list, so I’m happy!) so I had to come up with Plan B.  My birthday gift to myself was the month-to-month membership at Snap (which is right across the street from me) so I could finish this dang half-marathon.  It’s been a long fight – last time I signed up, I got bronchitis FIVE DAYS before the event. Five. Days. I was sooooo upset! So… trying this again and won’t quit this time.  If I get sick or hurt or sick again right before the event… I’ll be really REALLY mad! LOL.

Anyway, I figured after the fitness center tour, it would be about 1 or 1:30 – still have enough daylight left for 4-5 hours of local caching. Probably won’t go that long, because I have a whole heap of laundry to do…but at least the GeoKids and I can get some caching done. 🙂 After two weeks, I’m going stir crazy. 🙂

Sunday, my GeoTeen1 (the girl) are going to visit GeoTeen2 (the boy, currently on “forced vacation” in Gainesville).  We’ll have to go to the early service at church (8:45 – ugh! GeoTeen1 said she didn’t think they even made an 8:45 on the clock during weekends –  LOL!) to get to Gainesville by 1:00.  Only two can visit him at any time, so it will be me and her, while hubby stays home wiht the little GeoKids.  I originally figured that, givin the 1:00-2:30 visiting hours, and the fact that it’s a 90-minute drive from home to there, it would be a geocache-free Sunday. (sad!)  Then it dawned on me… Hey! They have Geocaches in and near Gainesville, too! Duh.  So I put in the address of where we’d be, and voila! Several caches popped up.  There didn’t seem to be any that were particularly inspiring… until I found THIS ONE.  The code for this one, if you are looking it up on the Geocaching webiste, is GC2EBQ3.  In case that link doesn’t work, here is a picture from the photo album on that cache page:

Yes, this cache is located deep in the heart of a bamboo forrest!!!!!!! Ginormously tall bamboo, tall as trees! Super-thick forrest!  Trails, nature, and did I mention, ginormously tall bamboo everywhere?! HOW FREAKIN’ COOL IS THAT?????!!!!????? Hopefully I get an early Valentine’s day gift of a digital camera (our old one died… I’d also accept an iPhone now that Verizon has them, LOL… but iPhone costs more dollars than we have in the bank, so that’s pure wishful thinking there, LOL!) so I can take pics of this… it is sure to be fantastically awesome!

So, I am excited to finally be able to get out there and get some geocaching done on Saturday… but I am far, far, FAR more excited about the one on Sunday, smack-dab in the middle of a whole mess of bamboo! That will be mega, mega cool!!!!

Will let y’all know how it all goes…keep your fingers crossed for me & GeoTeen1 that we can find the bamboo forrest one! Will post pics if I can. 🙂