This Desert Living Thing

So this desert living can be interesting, to say the least!

But first, this past weekend I had the wonderful privilege of speaking at the Passion for Orphans conference in gorgeous Beaver Creek, Colorado.   The group was wonderful, the worship incredible and the spirit was sweet.  To add to that, the aspens were bright gold and Saturday morning it began to snow!

I hate snow, but it was beautiful….from inside the warmth of The Charter, wrapped in my huge sweater and knowing I was flying back to heat in 40 hours!!14480726_10209670960546555_8551603474158761679_o

This sweet young single mom was the other main speaker.  I’d never met Sophie before, but what a treasure she is!!  We were able to spend much of our free time together.  Seriously, my new friend was an incredible joy to my soul!!

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While there in Beaver Creek, I was still awake in the wee hours of Sunday morning.  I was up tweaking before I shared, for the last time, Sunday morning.  About 12:30 am Colorado time my cell rang.  It was Dw.  He sounded upset!  He was wondering if I was up because he wanted me to pray.

He had been in bed and remembered something he needed and had gone out to the kitchen…and inadvertently stepped on a scorpion, which then stung him on the foot!

He was in A-GONY!!  He had called out to Liberty, who was almost asleep, who in turn came and was trying to help him.  He said the pain radiated and throbbed like nothing he’s ever had.

So I was thinking about the post recently about the mountain lion in our neighborhood…and thought you’d love to hear about this one too.

I kept in touch with Dw throughout the night.  The web said that the severely intense pain from scorpion stings typically peak at 6 hours and then begin to subside.  That math-lovin’ man of mine, who loves to countdown anything he can, gritted his teeth as he waited for 6 hours.  I mean, the web said it.

The only thing was that it didn’t subside at all.  At 8 hours it was worse than ever!!  He said it felt like his skin was going to blow off his leg!! (There’s a picture for ya’. Sure glad it didn’t.  I mean what a mess that would have been.)

Then he and Liberty read on a different site that at 12 hours it would subside.  So again, he hung on to the thought that at 12 hours it would begin to improve.

He did call Poison Control in the early part and they told them what symptoms to look for:  drooling (seriously!), rapid heartbeat, muscle twitching (he did have that!) and severe sweating.

So he hung tight and clung to the fact that it would end.

In the morning, I spoke at the conference and as Sophie and I dashed the 2.5 hours to the airport with a precious friend named Bethel, I phoned the airline to see if I could switch my flight.  The lady was awesome and managed to get me on the earlier flight!  I made it in the nick o’time!  Thank you Jesus!

In Phoenix my dear friend Kimmy (thank you sweet girl!) picked me up and once home Dw repeated over and over how happy he was that I was home (the kids were happy too – haha).  At that point it was about hour 19 and although it was a speck (I use the word loosely) better we had heard that at 24 hours the pain would begin to lessen.

Finally, at hour 24, it did begin to ease up.  Although the radiating pain was still not-so-fun, his foot still has zero feeling…and he said it feels like a dead 2 x 4.  Dw did mention that it gave him a new appreciation for all Vern has to go through to drag his body.

Anyway, last summer I was cleaning our garage.  One night Ruby and I were in it and I was talking to her as I purged.  Liberty came out to bring me a glass of ice water and screamed loudly….walking toward me was this bad boy.

She grabbed me and pulled me away….as I turned to see this…

and in one fell-swoop that strong, manly hunka-hunka of mine “showed him”!!

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Liberty’s foot ^^ next to the intruder in our garage last summer.

We put the black light on it and put Dw’s foot next to it (below).

Bright (get it?) side note (that maybe those who’ve never lived in the desert don’t know).  Here’s the science behind it:  All scorpions fluoresce under ultraviolet light.  The blue-green glow comes from the substance found in the hyaline layer, a very thin but super tough coating in a part of the scorpion’s exoskeleton called the cuticle.  You don’t have to thank me for that cool science fact.

Anyway, I had read last year that truly the best way to rid your home and yard of scorpions is to hunt them every night.

As it turns out I saw our neighbor out as Liberty and I headed to go work out Tuesday morning.  I told him about Dw and the scorpion.  He mentioned that his wife considers it a personal thrill to hunt them and one night she found 18 scorpions.  ONE NIGHT – 18!!  Go Dorothy!!

 

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So now we are raising the cutest (right?), soon-to-be most experienced scorpion hunters to ever live in the desert. We’ve got some new black lights and each night they are going to hunt those bad boys!!  Maybe Dorothy can show them the ropes.

And I was thinking about this…we may not live in the country anymore but a pile of hunters are alive and well in this subdivision!!  And boy will they have stories to tell their kids.  They are pretty excited about it all.  Bugs.  Nasty-mean ones?  Wildly exhilarating fun for my boys!!

Just praying they don’t run into that dang mountain lion at the same time.

12 thoughts on “This Desert Living Thing

  1. But what do you do when you find them? We had one show up at school, about that same size, a few weeks ago. In 16 years living in the Philippines, I’d never seen one before! We did a live capture and released it down the road in the bush…but do you step on them?

    1. Definitely DO NOT step on them!! And more power to all the “save the bugs” people, but this mama and her treasures (including those with neurological struggles) do NOT need to be stung by one since it affects people neurologically…so the boys and Dw use a hammer or a spade or a shovel or anything else to smash it to bits. And booooo on finding one after all these years!!

  2. Try Diatomaceous earth. Spread it around the outside of the house, especially near doors where they can sneak in. With the rain we’ve been having in AZ (I live in Tucson), you may need to reapply if it washes or blows away. It is safe for people and pets if you use the food grade type.

    1. Thank you for the good ideas!! We actually have Diatomaceous earth all around our perimeter of our home – every inch!!! And we have it behind the baseboards in all the rooms that Dw and the boys have been replacing the carpet and putting in hard wood for the wheelchairs to roll more smoothly. We have those sticky things, too, at several of the exterior doorways. We will keep reapplying and pray hard!!

  3. While it won’t take all the pain away- hopefully he tried the ice/cold water soak. many folks have said that was the most effective. Hope he is ‘back’ to feeling good!

    1. He didn’t do the cold water soak when he was in pain. From the sounds of things, he tried just about everything but….it must not have been listed on any of the sites that Liberty and he were searching…cause they tried everything they said!! And crazy as it sounds, his foot still has zero feeling! That nasty thing did a real number!!

  4. Sweet Linny, I hope you were actually “tweeting” and not “tweaking”!! Always love hearing your heart and your adventures! Julie

    1. No, I was actually “tweaking”….(Definition: adjust, modify, alter, change, adapt; refine) what I was going to share on the next morning. Upon reading your comment, I am guessing “tweaking” is now used for something inappropriate or otherwise but in this silver-haired mama’s vocabulary it means to “adjust, modify, alter, change, adapt and refine” my words to be shared. And if it is true that it now means something yukky? Go with the fact that I share almost daily my sold-out-passionate-heart-for-God and definitely, definitely, definitely – choose to believe the best!! Or we’re all in big trouble!!

  5. Hi Linny,
    I know this is after the fact but the McClennan’s from Phoenix first have some sort of therapy they do where they electroshock the area of the sting. Beth got stung recently, her Dad shocked her in that spot right after and the pain went away quite quickly. I thought it might help to share that if anyone gets stung in the future…maybe they can give you their insight…more than my hear-say story….:)

  6. I’m hoping and praying DW is much better now. Can I say ouch!!!? I don’t remember seeing many scorpions when we lived in New Mexico. That’s a bit frightening. Thankful that Liberty was able to be with him. Thanks for sharing your story at a conference to shine light on adoption. Love and blessings!
    grandmabeckyl.blogspot. com

  7. Living in the country we have become further acquainted with those little terrors. Only ours are not nearly as big!! Praise Jesus for small mercies because this momma’s heebie jeebie dance is already disproportionately long/expressive compared to the size of the critter. 😳 Praying for DW’s lingering symptoms to resolve quickly! (I cringe thinking about how much he must have been hurting for those 24 hours!) And prayers for fun, successful and safe hunts for your boys! 😬

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