Well, it's still snake weather around Pine Bluff. It was about 75 degrees Fahrenheit at sunset today and as I was ending up my walk on the trail, sweating, I stopped for a moment after Jessie stopped (I'd put her back on the leash by then, to avoid her taking off after deer and being gone when I was ready to leave). We were on a high sloping bank above the bayou, and I saw what at first looked like a stick, about 12 or 13 inches long, near a big cypress tree less than 10 feet away. I looked closer, and yep, it was a snake. Copperhead again, but bigger than the one that bit me on Sept 8. It's skin was dark enough I thought at first it was a mocassin, but I looked closer and could see the copperhead pattern. It kept it's head down, continuing to look very stick-like, even though I had a few words to say to it (no cussing, just normal conversational talk). Earlier, in the middle of the trail, I'd seen a stick about the same size that looked like a snake due to its missing some bark in places and being slightly sinuous. I stopped quickly when I saw it, then kicked it off the trail, relieved but with my heart beating a little faster.
Jessie stopped to sniff the air, not because of the snake, which she apparently didn't see. She's seen them on the trail several times when she wasn't on the leash, passing right by them sometimes and other times stopping and looking warily at them and then going on her way, helped along by me shouting, "No! Let's go!" several times.
I've been wearing boots on the trail ever since the snakebite. This is the second or third snake I've seen since then.
Now let's get off snakes and onto burns. The best thing you can do for a burn, the usual kitchen burn, is to get it under cold water immediately and keep it there for several minutes. I did this after taking a hot iron skillet out of a 400 degree oven using a whatchamacallit (hot pad?), then a moment later getting burned when I pushed the skillet to the side on the stovetop with only my bare thumb and two fingers. How quickly one forgets when distracted by other thoughts...
In less than a second, I had my thumb and two fingers under cold running water and I kept them there, impatiently but with determination, for about 4 minutes. Afterwards, I could still see the burned places (light brown), but they didn't hurt at all, and they disappeared in about 24 hours. Apparently, the "less than a second" part is crucial. You're almost superimposing the hot and the cold at a single moment, see? Almost a superposition of the two. Well, okay, more like an average, you're right.
Now for stars and planets. (Stars exist because they are burning, by the way.) What's the bright "star" in the east at sunset? I haven't looked it up, but I looked up at it a few nights ago with binoculars. I saw what looked like tiny stars lined up (i.e.,.,., in the the same plane) next to the object, which was conclusive proof that it is Jupiter--the tiny "stars" are several of its moons.
I guess the other, later-rising bright object is Saturn, since it's not reddish (then it would be Mars; don't know where Mars is right now). And finally, that must be Venus in the west after sunset. Now I'll go check out an astronomy website to see if I'm right. Oh yeh, I'd rather be happy than right, but sometimes you, I, we can be both. Right?
A telescope is needed to see Saturn's rings, or maybe very powerful binoculars. But it's sure an awe inspiring sight. I was the astronomer's assistant on public nights at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's observatory during the 1976-77 academic year when I first saw Saturn's rings, clearly and coldly, through the observatory's 26 inch telescope. Austerity, serenity, and of course beautiful circular symmetry. Very much unlike just looking at a photo of it. Also, try looking at the crescent moon with binoculars sometime. You can see it three-dimensionally, like a giant beach ball with a flashlight shining on it.
Oh, yeh, and how about that asteroid passing nearby? Makes me wonder when the next big one will hit, and where, and if it will be seen before it hits.
Jessie stopped to sniff the air, not because of the snake, which she apparently didn't see. She's seen them on the trail several times when she wasn't on the leash, passing right by them sometimes and other times stopping and looking warily at them and then going on her way, helped along by me shouting, "No! Let's go!" several times.
I've been wearing boots on the trail ever since the snakebite. This is the second or third snake I've seen since then.
Now let's get off snakes and onto burns. The best thing you can do for a burn, the usual kitchen burn, is to get it under cold water immediately and keep it there for several minutes. I did this after taking a hot iron skillet out of a 400 degree oven using a whatchamacallit (hot pad?), then a moment later getting burned when I pushed the skillet to the side on the stovetop with only my bare thumb and two fingers. How quickly one forgets when distracted by other thoughts...
In less than a second, I had my thumb and two fingers under cold running water and I kept them there, impatiently but with determination, for about 4 minutes. Afterwards, I could still see the burned places (light brown), but they didn't hurt at all, and they disappeared in about 24 hours. Apparently, the "less than a second" part is crucial. You're almost superimposing the hot and the cold at a single moment, see? Almost a superposition of the two. Well, okay, more like an average, you're right.
Now for stars and planets. (Stars exist because they are burning, by the way.) What's the bright "star" in the east at sunset? I haven't looked it up, but I looked up at it a few nights ago with binoculars. I saw what looked like tiny stars lined up (i.e.,.,., in the the same plane) next to the object, which was conclusive proof that it is Jupiter--the tiny "stars" are several of its moons.
I guess the other, later-rising bright object is Saturn, since it's not reddish (then it would be Mars; don't know where Mars is right now). And finally, that must be Venus in the west after sunset. Now I'll go check out an astronomy website to see if I'm right. Oh yeh, I'd rather be happy than right, but sometimes you, I, we can be both. Right?
A telescope is needed to see Saturn's rings, or maybe very powerful binoculars. But it's sure an awe inspiring sight. I was the astronomer's assistant on public nights at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's observatory during the 1976-77 academic year when I first saw Saturn's rings, clearly and coldly, through the observatory's 26 inch telescope. Austerity, serenity, and of course beautiful circular symmetry. Very much unlike just looking at a photo of it. Also, try looking at the crescent moon with binoculars sometime. You can see it three-dimensionally, like a giant beach ball with a flashlight shining on it.
Oh, yeh, and how about that asteroid passing nearby? Makes me wonder when the next big one will hit, and where, and if it will be seen before it hits.
