For the last month nothing too exciting has been happening here. I got cut twice so I haven't been able to do a whole lot of physical activity. A couple weeks ago the dermatologist had to cut some skin out of my back which led to a bunch of dissolvable stitches and four big ones. Last Monday while getting the sutures removed in my back I got cut up again right below my chest with almost a dozen dissolvable stitches and 3 big ones. So basically I have been spending a lot of time sitting on my butt. I had just started a daily kettle belt routine which was doing wonders for me and had to stop that as well.
Anyways these are the most exciting events we've had in the last month. About a month ago I took Adri hiking at Cave Creek. At the visitor's center they have snakes, scorpions, spiders, tarantulas, etc but this day they also had a show going on with a lot more snakes. After looking at all the critters I took Adri on a 3.5 mile hike through the desert on the Slate Trail.
A couple days after my first surgery I decided it was time to take Adri up the peak behind our house. I work from home on Sundays so after work I decided to go. I couldn't carry her so I wasn't sure she would make it. Natalie was sure she wouldn't especially since she was already tired from the playground. It's a pretty tough hike as it's 400 feet in elevation gain, there is no trail going up, and it's climbing one rock at a time trying to find your way up and hoping you don't hit some loose rock and go sliding down. Well I'm proud to say the kid made it up. She had to hold my hand the entire way but other than that it was all her. She did fall a couple times and got some bruises on her butt but other than that no injuries.
Once we hit the base of the hill she was already saying she was tired and wanted to stop. I kept on pushing the kid though. She needs to toughen up for the zombie apocalypse. I just told her I'd be really proud if she makes it up. Of course her response is "If I make it up there do I earn a popsicle when I get home"? When we got to the top we called Natalie and had her go out to the middle of the street so we can wave at her. All I could see from up there was a black shadow in the street. We took a trail down the back side because it's too dangerous going down the way we came up. It was longer, still a challenge, and Adri was crying that she's tired long before we got home. Most of the way down the hill Adri kept asking if I am proud of her for making it to the top. Actually two weeks later I still here it from her every day. When we got back to the street we saw a baby gopher snake in the street so I grabbed a stick to play with it.
A couple days later we went hiking again at Cave Creek. This time the whole family went. On the hike back, almost at the car, we ran into a rattlesnake. This one wasn't nearly as aggressive as the one I almost stepped on at Daisy Mountain. This one about 2/3 the size of the one at Daisy and we heard it when we got about 7-8 feet from it. It was on Adri's side and stopped rattling after just a second or two so at first I didn't know what it was. I looked in the bush and could see him all coiled up. Natalie with her expert (sarcasm) outdoor experience started yelling for Adri to go back to her, 150 feet back in the parking lot. Luckily when I yelled at Adri to stop and get her butt back next to me she listened. This thing was so timid that when I chucked some rocks it's way it wouldn't even rattle. So after taking a couple pictures of the snake he decided to retreat. Once he was far enough away and on the retreat I snapped a picture of Adri with the snake in the background.
After this hike my feet were very sore. I've been to a specialist a couple times in the last two months because of my feet not thinking the problem was my boots since they still appear to be in good shape. I had x-rays done and the doctor couldn't find anything except the fact that my shins were really tight. Well a couple days after this hike I went back to the doctor and told her it appears the hiking is what is irritating it. She told me to see if I can bend my shoes. Sure enough my boots bend like a taco and the front can touch the tongue. Had to invest in some new hiking boots and they weren't cheap.
At the top of the peak
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