Welcome (Back) to California

We arrived a few weeks ago and have pretty much unpacked and are for the most part settled.  The Antelope Valley is just as we left it. Hot, dry, and windy.  It took about 4-5 days for all of us to adjust to the super dry climate.  We had some nose bleeds, hideously chapped lips, dry flaky skin, and bad headaches.  Most have remedied themselves and we are using lots of lotion and Chapstick.

We were able to stop and spend some time with my parents on the way. It was a nice way to break up the trip and we had a good visit.  I got to see my grandmother, which always makes me happy.

Yesterday, we celebrated a birthday for our friends' 3 year old daughter. It was a princess pool party.  I was sitting in a chair off to the side of the pool in the shade chatting and catching up with a friend when all of the sudden, a little girl gets out of the pool and is walking along the edge getting ready to jump back in when she stops, points in my general direction and says, "Snake!" I can assure you I have never jumped out of a chair so fast in my life.  People scattered. People shrieked. I ran. As I ran for my life, I thought, surely there isn't a snake with all these people and it must have been a branch or stick she thought was a snake. When I'd run far enough away, I turned to look and sure enough, this is what I saw slithering away from under the chair I had been sitting in.

California King Snake




"Oh, it's not poisonous and it's harmless.  Said. Me. NEVER." 

I hate snakes. I don't care if they are poisonous or not.  A snake is a snake is a snake.  ICK!  

Needless to say I told my friend Deborah I was never coming to her house again. 

 I guess I got over it quickly.  We're going back for the 4th of July.  This time maybe I'll stay in the pool!