Squirrel! ....and....Snakes?

This day was a complete "squirrel" from the original project....or maybe it was just another extension.  I don't know.  All I know is that spending so much time outside made it impossible to ignore this jungle any longer.  Underneath this neglected corner of the yard is a rock wall. 

With the back half of our goldendoodle in the picture, it should give you a pretty good idea how high these grasses and weeds reached.

The day before I tackled this area, my friend came over, at my request, to answer some yardening questions and give some pointers.  As we stood close to this jungle, we both heard something defnintely bigger than a cricket make some noise in there.  We took a few steps back......

because this is our other backyard....

And neighbors are always posting pics of funky critters they find in their yards, like this baby rattlesnake....*shudders*

I got my little gardening shears, put on my gloves and protective clothing, and said a prayer before I started cutting away at the grasses and weeds.  I continued to pray throughout the entire process!  "Please don't let anything with venom bite me!  Please don't let anything with venom bite me!."  Over and over.  My heart was racing.  I was sweating more than I normally would have.  I was a terrified person through this process.  I didn't want to find out how venom might affect the trigeminal nerve.  I don't think I want to repeat this one again. 

 

It was nice to see the progress though...

And it really didn't take as long as I thought it would.  So that was nice!  I never did see any critters besides spiders and potato bugs :)

The rock wall doesn't get to stay.  So many of the rocks are shattering.  There are pieces of rock all over the lawn, darn it.

I just need to decide what to do with the good rocks and the shattered rocks.  Another project in the works.

My only other TN/GPN complaint, besides the thought of a rattler attacking my central nervous system, was triggering the annoying sensation of the little creature that sews all of my bottom, right teeth together with his really sharp needle.  

The way I had to bend was a bit awkward and I couldn't figure out another way to do it.  It was only a level 3 pain, which I try not to complain about, because it's much more tolerable than the level 10 pain that comes with a flare-up, but it was really annoying and lasted for about a week, so I'm going to complain about it :).