Day of the Sickness, 56th of Midsommar, 526 M.E. (Deneb): It's starting to warm up here in Georgia - the high temp today reached 90° but the humidity was still a reasonable 47%, so the heat index ("feels like temperature") was only 93°. Summertime temps for the this neck of the woods, nothing out of the ordinary.

I walked my eight-mile Van Buren today, and the nerdlings at Apple allowed me credit for a full 8.2 miles on my phone. 

A black rat snake was crossing the sidewalk as I walked today - not a particularly large one, about two feet long (they grow to six or seven feet). We both paused and eyeballed each other for a moment, and I allowed him to continue crossing the sidewalk without otherwise bothering him. We was heading toward Peachtree Creek, where I imagine there are all sorts of tasty prey for a snake, although what do I know? He was going on about his snake business and I was going on about my simian business. 

Earlier this week, as I was looking out my kitchen window contemplating Eliot's gravesite, I saw that a piece of tape or something was dangling off my roof. Great, I thought, a piece of the gutter or the roofing needs repair - more expenses.  I went outside to look closer and pulled the "tape" down off the roof to discover it wasn't tape at all but a snake skin. It was about four feet long and fully intact from tail to nose. Probably another rat snake - they're common down here and are excellent climbers. I've seen them go straight up the trunks of trees without seeming to grasp onto anything. But why was a four-foot (and probably longer now) rat snake on my roof and more importantly, where is he now? Could he get inside my house from somewhere on the roof? Say, down the chimney like jolly old Saint Nick? 

I may have a snake infestation problem in my house, but rat snakes are actually pretty chill (I had a six-footer as a "pet" when I was in my teems and it never bit me once) and at least I won't have mice or rats or other vermin. Still, if I feel something crawling across my feet while I'm sleeping at night . . .  

My sister called from Massachusetts today while I was out walking. She's now cancer free, but recovery from the long ordeal of surgery and chemo- and radiation therapy is still taking a long time. But she's now in that exclusive club of cancer survivors.