Ankle biters.........

05:14 am - Sunday - July 22nd - Southwest Harbor, ME - 58º F, 95% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the east.......cloudy with 65% chance of rain by 10 am.....forecast high for today is 66º F.  Today is pool day....I hate getting up so early!

So, I don't recall (I guess I could look at yesterday's blog and recall for sure, but I'm lazy) if I wrote about getting stung on Friday for the second time this summer by a yellow jacket/hornet/wasp.  In California we call them yellow jackets, but here in 'down east' Maine they call them wasps, or hornets.  Whatever they are called their bites hurt like heck.....comparable to having someone stick an ice pick into your leg.  Two, or three weeks ago I was stung on the back of my right leg on the achilles tendon, just above the heal.  This time I was stung, or bitten (they do both) on the front of my right leg just above the ankle.  The first time I just got a large bump that itched for about 5 days.  This time my whole ankle swelled. To combat this, obviously, allergic reaction I took a Benadryl, which has brought the swelling down, but this is not a good sign as I believe this progression is how you become sensitized to their bites, which ultimately could lead, way down the road, to anaphylatic shock.  Anyway, I will not be responding to any future requests to exterminate yellow jacket nests.

Yellow Jacket.....very, very aggressive buggers

Saturday was another wonderfully delightful weather day.  Every Saturday I arrive at the office with a little trepidation as to how many sites will have departures requiring them to be cleaned.  The prior two Saturdays had 39, and 31 departures respectfully, and I was expecting something similar this Saturday, but it turned out there were only 26 sites needing cleaning.....whew!

After collecting 17 bundles of wood to restock the wood box Alex and I set out to begin cleaning the 26 sites.  Fortunately, there had already been several departures and we were able to get right to it staying busy the entire morning and right up to lunch when we finished our 18th site.

After lunch Alex and I reconvened finishing up the last 8 sites by 1 pm, and after dumping our firepit ashes, and trash we headed over to the men's restroom to help Steven and Tammy finish cleaning.  Once the restrooms were done Alex and I headed to the various recycling stations we have here at SDC bagging up the 'returnables' and dropping them off at the main recycling station here at SDC where they will continue to accumulate until we pack them off to the recycling station for redemption.  By the time we finished that task it was almost 3 pm and time for Tammy, Alex and Steven to head home.  I, of course, had two more hours and as has been my custom for weeks now I retrieved my Stihl string trimmer and began trimming grass and weeds.  There is a never a shortage of trimming to be done, but at least I am keeping up with it by doing some every day.  

I was home a little after 5 pm taking a much needed shower, and then relaxing outside with an adult beverage and a cigar waiting for TLE's arrival.  About 10 minutes before she came home I lit the Sea-B-Que so I could grill a couple of filet mignons for dinner.  TLE provided a side of roasted vegetables, and we once again ate alfresco.  The evenings lately are just so pleasant, and seem to demand they be enjoyed outside, so we are more than happy to acquiesce to that suggestion as long as they last.

We watched a few more episodes of 'Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee' before heading off to slumberland once more time.

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