Copperhead bite on the finger!!!

All I can say is HALLELUYAH that this happened to my oldest child and not the younger ones (IF it had to happen at all) because he is bigger than my husband was when we got married, and also that it wasn't a rattle snake! It always hurts to see your child suffering and in pain though, especially when there isn't a lot you can do to help.

So here's what happened.....around 2:00 this afternoon, Jonathan was outside cleaning the back yard. We've only seen a couple of snakes this year, none of which were copperheads, but we know they're around. We saw a LOT of them last year, so we know to watch. Well, the cat found one, and since Jonathan has handled them successfully before (even when I've told him not to!!!), he thought he'd "save" the cat from getting bitten.....but it turned it's head around and got one fang in the tip of his middle finger. Lesson learned!

So we grabbed the activated charcoal, and he just threw some on it and made a big mess. Then we rushed to the hospital about 25 minutes away. THREE HOURS after the bite, he FINALLY got his first dose of anti-venom! They wanted to wait and observe the swelling and other symptoms to see if maybe it was a dry bite.....it was not. I totally understand why they didn't give it to him immediately, but I felt pretty silly for rushing him there! They transferred him to a room in ICU to watch him closely overnight, and so far it looks like he'll probably go home tomorrow and may not need a 2nd dose of the anti-venom. Other than the pain and other annoying symptoms, he's kind of enjoying being pampered and waited on! He said he'd never go through the pain again just to get this treatment. What's funny though is he just had his 2nd dose of MORPHINE, even though he only rated his pain as a 4 on a scale of 1-10! Haha! I'll humor him, but I think he'd agree he doesn't have a high threshold when it comes to pain. And all kidding aside, I don't think most men can handle pain well. You would have thought he was dying!

Here's a few pics of his hand. The doc said it will probably look worse in the morning, and he'll probably lose all that skin that turns black. I'm just thankful he probably won't be losing his finger!

P.S. I really believe the activated charcoal helped at least a little bit. I may never know exactly how much, but I do think it helped! I was so glad to have that on hand.

Natural Mosquito Repellent

I just wanted to save this for later, so I can research each plant a little more. I will need to decide which plants will work better where we live (once we are off-grid, but maybe even here), but I want to use some of these around the perimeter of our yard to repel mosquitoes. I am sooooooo sick of them this year after all the rain we had in the Spring!

The ones I'm listing here are all perennials. I may decide to plant some annuals as well, but I like the idea of not having to regrow plants every year. If I do get some annuals, they will probably be things we will eat or use for remedies or something.

Does anyone have experience using these just for mosquito repellent? I'd love to hear how well they work (or not)!

• Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)
• Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) 
• Citronella Grass (Cymbopogon nardus) 
• Catmint (Nepeta faassenii) 
• Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium)
• Catnip (Nepeta cataria)
• Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia -- This one attracts and EATS mosquitoes, it's carnivorous! So maybe I'd put these in the middle of the yard in case some mosquitoes occasionally breech the barrier, or outside the fence.)

Storms

We had some severe thunderstorms and tornadoes come through our area last night. Nothing really much at our house other than mostly small hail, strong winds and rain, all while we were bunkered down inside our storm shelter. It's amazing how comfortable you can get in such a tight space if it is well planned!

There was one minor injury though. I got bit by something, and it HURT! We think it was a brown recluse spider. (I don't mean to make light of true storm injuries and death.....my heart goes out to those who lost loved ones or were injured from debris or something else storm related.) My hand was on my 2-year-old as I was holding her, so I am so thankful it bit me and not her. It is possible for death to occur from a brown recluse bite, and most of those deaths are in children under age 7.

So far it doesn't really look any different, about 24 hours later, but it is a little sore, and I have been feeling "off" all day, like I'm coming down with something. It may be unrelated, but I have heard and read that it can sometimes take 3 or 4 days before some people notice any changes in the bite area. So I think I'll take pictures just for fun, in case it turns out to be a brown recluse bite.

I did put activated charcoal on it right away, so that probably helped. Here are more great tips for natural care (read the comments as well). We have these things on hand, since we have brown recluse, brown and black widows, hobo spiders and a few venomous snakes as well. Last year our puppy was bitten by a copperhead. I used activated charcoal, coconut oil and essential oils on his wound, and after he mostly slept for 2 days, he was completely back to normal. A rattler is more serious, but since we have them around here too, we know what to do. Everyone needs to know!

Here is the only picture we took of the storm from our back yard, before we rushed into the storm shelter......the wind and rain were picking up fast at this point! My son took this one, and it's hard to get a good pic from our yard because we have so many trees.

Here are a few others I found on the web, and this is definitely what we saw, just not usually the entire mesocyclone at once! These were all taken yesterday of the storm that went directly over us. It had produced tornadoes in Moore, but thankfully they dissipated pretty quickly and were gone well before the storm reached us. There was still quite a bit of rotation though, which is really scary when you're standing right under it!

How crunchy are YOU?

Take this quiz below and let me know what your granola factor is! :)

Do you have homebirths?
15 points for “yes” (unassisted)
10 points for “yes” (with a midwife in attendance)
5 points for alternative birthing center
2 points for “thinking about/would like homebirth”
0 for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).

Will you circumcise future sons?
5 points for “no”
-5 points for “yes”.

Do you use cloth diapers?
20 point if you do Elimination Communication (no diapers)
15 points if “yes” (wash and make your own)
10 points if “yes” (wash your own)
5 points if “yes” (diaper service)
2 points if “thinking about it”
0 points if “no” (wouldn’t consider it).

Do you observe your fertility signals using Natural Family
Planning/Fertility Awareness and use that for birth control/trying to conceive?
10 points for “yes” (observe and use for birth control/ttc) or you use ecological
breastfeeding/lactational amnorrhea
5 points for “yes” (observe for trying to conceive)
2 points “thinking about it”
0 points for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).

Do you breastfeed exclusively for the first 6+ months?
10 points if “yes”
5 points for “no” (use occasional bottles of expressed breastmilk)
2 points for “no” (use occasional bottles of formula)
0 for “no” (don’t breastfeed by choice).

Do you co-sleep/family bed?
10 points for “yes” (all night every night)
5 points for “yes” (part/all of most nights)
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no”.

Do you use a sling/soft carrier?
5 points for “yes”
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).

Do you believe in/practice child-led weaning
(even if that means breastfeeding for several years)?
15 points for “yes” (complete child-led weaning)
10 points for “yes” (up to 3 years)
5 points for “yes” (up to 2 years)
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no” (you’ll wean the baby at 1 year or earlier).

Do you tandem nurse/nurse during your pregnancy?
10 points for “yes” (nurse during pgcy and tandem nurse)
5 points for “yes” (nurse during pgcy, but wean before birth)
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no”(wouldn’t consider it).

Do you eat organic/whole/natural foods and limit your meat?
15 points for “yes” (grow own/buy organic, shop only at health food store,
grind own wheat, vegetarian, etc.)
10 points for “yes” (grow some of own food, buy organic,
use whole wheat flour, bake own bread, eat some meat occasionally)
5 points for “yes” (try to buy natural, whole grain foods, etc.)
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).

Do you use herbal/homeopathic remedies?
10 points if “yes” (very rarely see a regular doctor)
5 points if “yes” (but use a doctor occasionally)
2 points if “thinking about it” (see a doc for now)
0 points for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).

Do you homeschool?
10 points if “yes” (currently homeschool)
5 points for “yes” (will homeschool)
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).

What's your take on childhood vaccinations?
15 points for no vaccines
10 for delayed, selective vaccination
5 points for selective, on schedule vaccination
2 points for thinking about not vaccinating
0 points for vaxing on schedule.

Would you/have you ever breastfeed/fed someone else's baby
or has someone else bf your child?
10 points if yes (have or someone has bf your baby)
5 points if yes (would)
2 points if maybe 0 if no (wouldn't consider it).

Do you use cloth/re-usable products for mom?
10 points if yes (make own)
5 points if yes (buy own)
2 points if thinking about it
0 points if no.

Ratings
120 – 140 Super Nutty, Ultra-Crunchy Granola Earth Mama!
90 – 119 Mmm! Love that whole-grain crunch!
60 – 89 Pretty Crispy
20 – 59 Sprinkled with Granola
5 – 19 Instant Oatmeal
0 - 4 Jell-O

I scored a 157. I think the quiz needs to give more options on some of the questions. For example, we do practice EC but we also use diapers! We only EC part-time, I guess you could say. Also, half of us are vegetarian, but we don't always buy organic and we still eat out some. We also unschool which is more crunchy than just homeschooling in general. Maybe I'll customize my own granola quiz. :)

What is YOUR score? :)