Busy Day

I had quite the day yesterday. It started early with Xander's surgery to get his tonsils out. After 3 bouts of tonsillitis in the first 4 months of this year alone, not to mention previous years, 105 degree fevers and copious amounts of antibiotics, we decided it was time to have them removed. However, no matter how minor the surgery, it is still a scary prospect to be an accomplice to putting your child to sleep in the OR and then waiting outside while they take something sharp to his throat. The part where he is waking up out of the anesthesia certainly isn't my favorite either, holding him and trying to calm his thrashing about; avoiding looking into his bloody throat while he cries, "no more surgery," as he attempts to jump up and run. I can't speak from experience, but Joseph says that is the worst part of it all: waking up. All said and done, it went well and he came home several hours later to ice cream and his big surprise.

Xander waiting to go into the OR.

And I came home to a surprise as well. A pit viper had crossed through our yard and Marifi spotted another curled up on a leaf in the neighbor's banana tree that used to partially hang over the fence into our yard. Another brown snake was seen in the same tree and most of my afternoon was spent figuring out what kind of snakes they might be and what to do about it. After reading and researching online, and based on the description (green with distinct white bands,) we are convinced it was a viper. I called the pest control company and by the time he finally made his way out here, the snakes were gone, scared away no doubt by the noise and confusion. I was quite disappointed on two accounts: I wanted the reassurance of knowing at least one of our slithering friends was permanently gone; and the pest control man finding the viper and killing it promised to be an exciting show from my front row seat in the kitchen looking out the window. After he left, Marifi quickly cut all the banana leaves that hung over toward us and we will be constantly vigilant from here on out, that's for sure.

This is a photo of the Pit Viper I pulled off the Internet on a site with info on snakes in Southeast Asia, including Singapore.