RATTLESNAKE BITE

 

Last week when we were walking along the path at the Fort Myers Historic Cottage, there was a black snake that slithered across the ground.  As soon as I noticed the snake I jumped out of the way and a couple of people kind of laughed.  It was funny, but my fear of snakes is definitely real.  When I was 11 years old, I was bitten by a 29 inch eastern diamondback rattlesnake.  Prior to being bitten, I had a couple of close calls with snakes growing up. A couple of years prior, I was in my backyard and jumped over a pile of wood and my foot landed on the head of a water moccasin.  I jumped and was able to get away, but that was the first time I had encountered a snake that put fear in me. Then, two weeks prior to getting bit, I was walking across the street from my house to go fishing in a canal, and I noticed a large snake coiled up next to our mailbox.  I walked close and the snake did nothing.  I thought it was dead, but decided to go get my older brother.  He came outside with a shovel and took a poke at the snake.  It was an eastern diamondback rattlesnake, and as soon as that shovel got close that snake struck the end of the shovel, recoiled and did it again.  We both jumped back and the snake scurried away across an open field.

Two weeks later, May 4^th 1988, I had just got home and my brother and I were going to go over to our friend Billy’s house.  My brother called me a name when we got out of the car and I proceeded to chase him through the back yard, into Billy’s yard and in between Billy’s house and his neighbor’s.  As I passed the air conditioning unit on Billy’s house, I felt a sharp pain around my ankle on my right foot.  When I looked down, there was a snake clamped onto my leg.  I screamed and tried to kick the snake off. I eventually managed to shake him loose and as I tried to get away, fell to my knees and began to crawl to the front of my friend’s home.  My brother was screaming like a little girl too, and all the commotion led Billy’s mom to come outside to see what was happening.  She immediately called 911 and tied a tourniquet just below my knee. At that point I began to pass out and really don’t remember much for the next two weeks or so. By the time the ambulance had arrived, my foot had swollen so large that they had to cut off my shoe. My step-father went to look for the snake and found it in the exact spot where it had bit me. The snake was digesting a frog when they found it.  They killed the snake and brought it to the hospital.  The doctor told my mother that the snake had injected two and a half teaspoons of venom into the muscle in my leg.  They told my mom that there was a 50% chance of survival and that if I did survive; they were going to have to cut off my leg at the knee.  Somehow, with a lot of prayers, the majority of the muscle in my leg was healing and after 5 opinions from doctors, I was able to keep my leg. I initially had three surgeries to open the wound, which was a long cut from the knee to the ankle, and then two cuts on top of the foot, to relieve pressure and allow for cleaning of the muscle.  About a week later, I had three more surgeries to close up the wound and had it stapled and stitched up.  After about 3 months of physical therapy I was able to walk and eventually able to play football, baseball, and basketball in high school. So, if I see a black snake and it makes me jump and even scream, I think I’m entitled to that.

FORT MYERS BEACH HISTORIC COTTAGE

 

Earlier this week, we took a field trip to the Fort Myers Beach Historic Cottage, which was truly a step back in time.  Our host was a very nice little old lady, named Jo Hughes.  She and her family had lived in the very cottage that we were visiting.  Jo shared with us some of her experiences growing up on Fort Myers beach and created a great picture of life in the 30’s and 40’s on the beach.  She told us about no electricity and the excessive mosquito problems.  The cottage is now owned by the Estero Island Historic Society and contains old Indian artifacts, sea shells and other items from those earlier times.  I sat in the very back of the room when Jo was talking, and noticed a wooden school chair for a small child that was marked that it was 100 years old.  It made me wonder how many children had sat in the chair over the years.  I will say that it was built very sturdy, which is why it has lasted 100 years.  The cottage itself was the fourth home built on Fort Myers beach and was previously located on the shoreline. Three generations of the family lived in the cottage, before it was converted into the islands first preschool.  After Jo was done speaking, like a grandmother would, she offered us juice, cookies, and some home-made jams.  As I sat there enjoying my refreshments, I looked around the small cottage and thought about what life would have been like back then.  Yes the cottage was small, but even now it still had that feeling of home to it. After we finished with refreshments, we walked out behind the cottage for a walk along the boardwalk. On my way down I noticed a rain barrel that was built in the 1940’s next to the cottage. The barrel was used to collect rain and be used for drinking water.  Along the boardwalk we walked in out of mangroves.  The boardwalk reminded me of Ponce De Leon Park in Punta Gorda, where I have spent quite a bit time playing, fishing, and walking the boardwalk growing up.  The boardwalk came out to a beautiful opening to the water. This was a very peaceful place where you could sit and enjoy the view for quite some time.  We were also able to see some oysters in the water growing on the mangrove roots.  The next time we head to down Fort Myers beach for the day, I’m going to take the family by to see the cottage and walk along the boardwalk.  We also took time to look up online about many of the historic buildings and areas located here in Punta Gorda so that we can visit them as well.

ECHO GLOBAL FARM

Last week we took our class fieldtrip to the Echo Global Farm in Fort Myers. I have lived in southwest Florida my entire life and hadn’t ever heard of the farm.  When we first got to the farm we were introduced to a very friendly little man who was our guide for the fieldtrip.  I didn’t catch his name, but his humor made the walk through the farm interesting and enjoyable.  According to the Echo website, (http://www.echonet.org/), Echo is a non-profit organization whose vision is “to bring glory to God and a blessing to mankind by using science and technology to help the poor.”  The website also goes on to say that ECHO understands that there is a wealth of agricultural knowledge among the poor farmers we seek to assist.  As such, Echo does not “teach” people to farm.  Rather we work to make farmers more effective at growing food producing crops under harsh conditions.  I find that to be a very interesting concept.  As we walked around the farm there was evidence of this concept all around.  In some areas they were using old tires filled with soil and plants growing out of them.  Another very interesting concept was using the roof to grow plants and crops.  In third world countries, this allows individuals to grow their own crops, and not use up the surrounding land while doing so.  Our guide also said that this also allows the housing, or shacks that the people are living in, to stay cooler under the hot sun.  So you end up not only having food to eat, but also cooling your home.  One of my favorite spots along the walk through the farm was the rice patties. I have never seen them before, and thought that to be very interesting.  My Dad served in Vietnam and I have a couple of Uncles as well, and they had made several references to rice patties, and I guess there was some sort of connection there when I saw them. Another area I enjoyed in the farm was the bamboo area. It was nice and peaceful over there with a lot of shade.  I could have hung out in that area for the afternoon.  Echo is a very interesting place and holds a wealth of knowledge when it comes to farming in extreme conditions.  They also have a seed bank that contains some of the most rare and hard to find seeds that thrive in the tropics.  After sharing the field trip and looking at the website with my family, we have decided to visit Echo in the near future.