back in the Grove...

We arrived home in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday, slept for a few hours, and woke up to a lawn that was almost a foot high. A note to self: hire someone to mow at least once while we are away next August. Jeff and I got right to work on the lawn and with the cooler temperatures it didn't take us too long to get it it back into shape.
I stupidly mowed wearing crocs and no socks and at some point must have stepped on a mound of fire ants. I felt that telltale stinging/burning sensation, took off my shoe and saw a couple of bites. I woke up yesterday with a very swollen right foot. By last night it was nearly doubled in size. I have been applying ice and using benadryl spray. I hate taking benadryl because it really whacks me out, so it is always a last resort, the spray at least relieves the itch a little. Earlier this year I had two ant bites on my foot and they hurt and itched but the swelling wasn't anything close to this. This time it looks like I have a least four bites :-(.  If anyone has some good healing remedies for fire ant bites, I am open to suggestions!

I will probably be moving slowly again today, since it is hard to walk on this swollen foot. I am okay with that, it's raining and I have a book to read and Etsy orders to ship. The trailer will still be waiting to get unpacked once this foot is better.

My great-niece Arianna came to the Craftsmen's Fair with my sister. She and I rode the chairlift to the top of Mt. Sunapee. It's not a big mountain, but the chairlift gets pretty high off of the ground. She is a brave little four year old! It seemed like she had grown a foot since I last saw her in March. I will post more about the fair later.