Don't Mess With Texas

Our drive to Texas was normal. I haven't seen any of the "Drive Friendly" signs that used to be here but there was a cute little rest area full of picnic tables that were covered by roofs that looked like oil derricks. The roads are in bad condition and the drivers are worse.

Our visit with DeDe (Penny's sister) has been relaxing. Our activities have been centered around eating and shopping. Last night Penny provided dinner for DeDe's son John's family. I missed most of it because I was in the emergency room with a split lip that needed mending.

I was getting rid of a big hornet's nest that was built right on DeDe' entry way light. She had a full can of wasp spray that sprays 20 ft so I set out to do the task. Everything was fine…at first….The spray accurately hit the wasps and they dropped like flies, er, wasps. All except a couple who somehow were able to fly and were invading my personal space. Now, I know that a wasp sting or 2 is not the end of the world. I know this logically. Somehow, however when 2 or 3 of the critters are buzzing around your head you don't think straight. That was my first mistake. My second was not scoping out my escape route (which I have always done before). The third was wearing sandals. I remember jumping away from the wasps and turning to run. The next thing I knew I was leaning too far forward looking at the concrete driveway coming up at my face. I just couldn't get my legs up under me to stop the fall. My mind said, "This is not good.". A couple more steps and "crack" (that's what I heard) my head hit left cheek first.I got up and did a quick survey of my mouth with my tongue. All the teeth seemed OK but my lip had a hole in it the size of a dime. Surprisingly it was not bleeding badly. I covered it with my hand and went inside.

I told Penny I busted my lip. She looked at me and said that my eye looked pretty bad too. She quickly got me some ice. The lip needed stitches so off to the emergency room we went. I won't go into detail on that process - let's just say I was there 6 hours, most of it spent waiting for things to get done. The doctor did note as he was stiching me up that there were a lot of good exterminators right there in the phone book. I ended up with the split lip, a beauty of a shiner(it really does shine!), scrapes and cuts on the side of my face, the side of my knee and on my shoulder.

.............................................This is day 1

When I called Debbie to make arrangements for our visit with them tomorrow she asked me if I forgot to put my hands out. No, I didn't. I've got a sprained hand, too and I'm wearing a splint for it.The good news is that I didn't break any bones in my face or hands. My teeth are sore but appear to be OK (I may have a crack in one but I cant be sure). My glasses did absorb some of the impact and got badly bent and one lens is severely scratched. They are usable (I bent things back into place and the scratched area is on the side of the lens and doesn't really impair my vision.) but they will have to be fixed or replaced when I get home. Now when I walk around people take one look and step aside. Actually people avert their eyes from me and then sneak peaks when they think I'm not looking.

............................................day 4

Now the phrase "Take a trip in Texas" has taken on new meaning for me.