Mushroom hunting, as it happens, didn’t happen””got rained out. Instead, I puttered around the house and ran minor errands””like stocking up on Power Bars and energy gels””and worked on my new pair of socks. I had a minor but embarrassing accident in the mid-afternoon””I was feeding the snakes, and Astarte had refused to eat her last rat. I went to get Isis out, and she smelled rat on my gloves and promptly coiled around my hand. So there I am with a snake wrapped around my fingers, squeezing.
Fortunately for me, snakes don’t generally kill by directly squashing their prey””they suffocate it instead””so it wasn’t like she was breaking my fingers by squeezing. On the other hand, here I am standing here with a snake balled up around my hand, and how on earth am I going to accomplish anything this afternoon with a snake wrapped around my hand? It’s not as if you can knit, type, etc. with one hand balled up in a snake. On top of that, my fingers were rapidly turning blue, even with a leather glove on.
I poked at her. She refused to move. I pried up a coil or two. She refused to move. I tried slipping out my fingers, but of course snakes earn a living by NOT letting things slip out of their grips. I was stuck there with a snake wrapped around my fingers. (She, brat that she is, didn’t even bat an eye. Thankfully, she didn’t try to bite me, either.)
I wasn’t too worried because I figured at worst I could fill up the bathtub/sink and stick her in. When a critter’s head is underwater it usually finds higher priorities than squeezing my fingers. But fortunately I managed to pry her off my fingers eventually, whereupon I promptly dropped her into the feeding box, where she eventually devoured four rats. Better them than my fingers, methinks.
Finished up my workout on the trainer (still hellaciously boring””but hey! I can now sing the entire theme to the “Fantastic Four” cartoons!). Still very sore from Friday’s workout.
Sunday’s workout was one of those awful experiences you’d just as soon not remember. I got up in the morning and went out into the freezing cold to ride””was wearing THREE layers up top and was still cold for most of the ride. Also very low-energy; I had to stop to rest every fifteen to twenty minutes, and it was just generally a miserable ride. But I did it anyway. (I figure the willpower to get up and ride 2 hours in the freezing cold is just one small step towards the willpower to ride 585 miles with incredible soreness.)
And I saw another wild turkey! Dang, they are gorgeous birds.
Tonight (Tuesday) I’m going to interview another rider”¦this guy sent out fundraising emails to everyone he knew, and a couple in Chicago that he’d never met donated $1,450! The cause is apparently near and dear to their hearts”¦I’ll find out more details this evening, when I interview him. Should make a good addition to my chapter on fundraising stories.
And I am making progress on the book prep”¦got another transcript from one of the Lifecyclists I “hired” to help out with the transcription, so I think I may actually be en route to getting all my transcriptions done! Which would be a major relief, since it would mean I’d have enough material to work with and could proceed at something other than a glacial pace. I’ve also started printing my photo collection so I can decide which photos go into which chapter. I had to buy a new printer to do it, though, as the old one had gotten blurry in color printing. The new one is half the size, half the price, and does just as much! And prints faster, too. I am one happy camper. 🙂
That’s all for the moment”¦Thursday I interview a gay rider who came out this year”¦his mother has disowned him and refuses to speak to him since he came out, and his brother has said very little”¦but, when he sent out his donation letters, his brother donated three weeks’ salary, with a note “Go Erhan!” I’m always amazed by how AIDS and homophobia can bring out the best and the worst in people.