Where are my glasses?

  There is something to be said for failing eyesight.  No, it is not fun by any means but you deal with it as it seems to be a common part of aging. Without my glasses, things seem blurry and out of focus so I depend upon those things.  But...without them, things are brought into a different perspective.  Objects that appear to be one thing can prove to be something quite totally different.  This has actually made a difference in my days here on the Bayou.  

  This time of year, snakes are out and on the prowl (or crawl, as it may be).  One has to watch every step as an old cottonmouth moccasin might just be underfoot in any given area.  I have found them as far from the house as the marsh edge but as near as the front step.  They are hard to see.  I do not depend on my eyesight to find these critters.  I go back to that fine skill that Pop taught me so long ago.  He always said that it was easier to smell a moccasin than to see one and he was right.  Still, any snake is not fun to come across on a daily hike.  Even a nonvenomous one can scare the bejeebies out of you if it is stepped on unawares.  It is best to be wary...which brings me to today and my poor eyesight.

  I was out pushing that lawnmower again when I noticed my brother waving at me.   Stopping my machine, I had a nice chat with him before cutting the conversation short with "I need to get back to work."  As he turned to walk back down the lane, he gave a bit of a start and then said "Uh, oh!"  That did not seem to good so I held off cranking my mower.  He was pointing up under the azalea bush at what appeared to be a rather large snake.  Well, now!  I figured it could not be anything too dangerous unless the sweet aroma of the orange blossoms was masking the stench of a moccasin.  We drew a bit closer to check out just what type our slithery visitor was.  At this point, we both had a good laugh.  Our snake turned out to be a perfectly snake-shaped stick!  It even had its "head" raised about six inches off the ground.  Wow!  What a good impostor! 

  After another round of chatting (this time about our "snake"), he headed home and I went back to work.  My cutting took me far down behind the peach orchard and into an area dotted with palmetto clumps.  These are a favorite hiding place for snakes  and being as I was only wearing leather moccasins, I needed to watch my every step.  The recent "scare" of the stick snake might have been a good thing.  My wariness was already on edge.  I was alert.  I was careful.  Sometimes we can become so caught up in our thoughts and chores that we become careless.  Perhaps that stick was put there as a reminder that I need to watch my step.  Had I been wearing my glasses, I would have surely seen that it was just a stick and had never made me more cautious. Sometimes, we have to see things a bit blurred to see them more clearly.