No Walk Today – But a Zing to My Step                                                  

I’m sad to report that walking was not on my agenda today. The intensity of the heat and humidity was overwhelming – to the point where I’m pretty sure the heat index reached 104 degrees this afternoon.

I’d like to write something intelligible this evening, but that’s rapidly becoming less and less likely.

To add insult to my difficulty keeping my eyes open, I was stung by what I believe was a yellow jacket or a wasp today. I was helping someone carry their stuff from the edge of the Tohickon back to the car, rushing, since we could see the billowing, slate gray clouds rapidly approaching from the west. My arms were full as we climbed the grassy hill, rutted from the downpours of a few days ago, when suddenly the skies opened. Fat, harsh globs of water seemed to slap down onto our heads as we broke into a run.

Sting in a Storm

All of a sudden in the midst of this chaos, a searing pain, feeling a bit like a huge splinter, pierced my calf. I tried to swipe at it, but my arms were full. I was running, but the pain was so intense, I just had to slow a bit to try to get a glimpse of what was hurting me so much. All I could see was something that looked about as big as a quarter latched onto the back of my leg.

I couldn’t get any better of a look than to quickly assess the monster’s size because the bags I was carrying were flailing around and the wind and raindrops were whipping through the trees and into my face. I nevertheless staggered to a stop and tried to knock from the back of my leg whatever it was that was stinging me relentlessly. But I failed – painfully.

I thought I knocked it hard enough to dislodge it the first time, but it was clearly hanging onto me for dear life – by its stinger. Indeed, it felt like it was pumping as much venom into me as possible to make me suffer for whatever transgression I’d inadvertently visited upon it.

After blindly slashing at it with one of the bags I was carrying, I could see nothing was attached to my leg any longer – but the pain; ah, that definitely persisted.

The Clorox Remedy

As soon as I got home, I addressed the sting with my mother’s old ‘remedy’ – Clorox. After patting the back of my calf, which was now swelling and looking as angry as that wasp must have felt, with a Clorox-soaked wadded-up paper towel, the swelling did diminish a bit. But wowza, I have to tell you – five hours later, that hot, searing pain is back.

I’m sure it’ll be fine by tomorrow. The worst part will probably be intense itching. I’m lucky, though, especially when it comes to my body – which I know and appreciate. As my rapid recovery from being hurled onto the macadam when Spartacus and I were accosted by the neighbor’s dogs evidenced, my body is amazingly resilient. Not only that, I guess I should be grateful that I didn’t have an allergic reaction to the sting.

All in all then, I guess, upon reflection and analysis, I had a most fortunate day. Just a bit of extra Zing! added to my step.

(T-863)