Snakes, ticks, and bears, oh my!

It's been a wild spring here in Virginia this year. Thanks to all of the snow we had this past winter, the growing season was delayed by several weeks and everything started blooming at once! Achoo! It's been an unusually rough year for allergies thanks to that, and because I live in a wooded area, the mice and the ticks have been worse than usual.  My mom and I have pulled three off of the dog and four off of her. I had to dig one out of Mom's back just last night.  Eww... XP Nasty little bloodsuckers. Mom is on a round of antibiotics since one of her tick bites grew swollen and has stayed red for more than four days (it's been three weeks now and it still looks the same. O_o )  Between allergies, bugs, and a few more surprises that we have had in our yard this month, I am not very inclined to go outside for anything other than jogging down to the mailbox and strolling the dog. 

Yep. The title of this journal is not a joke. We've had snakes and a bear in our yard, too! The bear limped across the street to my neighbor's yard and hung out there for an hour. He had an injured hind leg. The game warden said that there wasn't much they could do so he's still roaming around somewhere.  He was last seen on a farm about three miles away from here so hopefully that's the last that he'll be seen in our neighborhood.  He was polite, though. He left all of the neighborhood trash cans alone. He may have broken a bird feeder and growled at a neighbor but there wasn't any visual evidence. 

We've also had a Black Racer snake slither under the garage door (just two feet away from where Mom was gardening... The poor dear was pretty badly startled by her surprise visitor but he was polite. He just wanted to get out of the sun.) We've also found a snake skin in the cubby under our mailbox (I think a bird built a nest in the back of the cubby and the snake went after the bird eggs).  After finding a baby Copperhead in our yard last year, we've been a little more leery about gardening and letting the dog sniff around any bushes. I'm sure we'll be safe. Most critters prefer to keep their distance rather than bother us. But still. We've had a lot of reminders that we share our property with a lot more than just deer, birds, mice, foxes, and rabbits. 

Thankfully the weather and the temperatures and such have been more pleasant here than in other areas of the country. I'm grateful that hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, derechos, drought, pestilence, and sinkholes are infrequent around here, but we still get our share of all of that fun stuff, too.  There was an earthquake not too long ago near where my cousins live.  Thankfully no one was hurt. 

In more somber news, as of June 5th, it has been one year since I last talked with one of my best friends. She passed away on the 7th last year. It has not been an easy month. I think I had more difficult time in May than this month because the rain made the sky and the house dark inside.  I'm pretty dependent on sunlight to wake me up and keep me feeling good, so rainy days are definitely dreary days.  But the past three days have been beautiful and that helps.   
I have my ups and downs, but I'm usually in a good or at least a neutral mood. Having my dog, my mom, my faith, and other things to focus on is a big help.  As long as I don't let sadness overwhelm me, I'm in good spirits. 

Other than all of that, not much is going on. Mom and I are thinking about going out to Arizona this winter to visit family. We've also considered joining a volunteer rescue organization called Samaritan's Purse that sends crews out to disaster areas to help with cleanup, reconstruction, and moral support. My aunt is a volunteer and crew leader and she recently got back from Mississippi and Colorado. She is going out to Galena, Alaska at the end of the year. So who knows what the future will bring?
We might go with my aunt to help in Alaska. We might just make this a year of staying home and only go out to see family now and then. We have tickets to go back to Busch Gardens Williamsburg this summer. We went there in April with my cousins for something fun to do. Mom will go back to Ohio for the craft show. I'm not planning on going this time since there wasn't anything that interested me at the craft show or antique shows, but who knows. She might talk me into it. She might not. Lol. We'll see. 

That's all that I can think of. Hope you're doing well. Take care and thanks for visiting!