Posts Tagged ‘snake’
Willy Nilly
I put in a few more miles on the bike yesterday, making my way down to the Rush River valley. That is such an invigorating drop in elevation from the flat farm fields to the bottom of the tree-covered, steep-sloped valley below. The road follows the river, with multiple low bridges where the water meanders back and forth until it gets confusing which side it’s on for a minute or two.
At the turn that leads to the Vino in the Valley restaurant, I paused for a brief chat with a couple of fly fishermen who were just about to head down to get their waders wet in pursuit of the perfect casting spots.
The restaurant wasn’t open; however, there were some people who were out shooting in the open field. I pedaled up the driveway, but wasn’t able to speak with anyone. I had guessed they might be skeet shooting, but it looked more like hunting for burrowing varmints at ground level. I chose not to interrupt.
I was hoping to ask about the giant teepee of large branches out in the middle of the open field. If that is for a burn, it is going to be one heck of a bonfire. Checking their calendar of events, I see they are holding a music festival on the 5th of September. Maybe it gets burned then.
Back home, in the afternoon, I did a little mowing in a manner I call “Cyndie Style.” We have company coming for lunch today, and Cyndie wanted the grotesquely tall foxtail grass and various weeds along the edges trimmed. It’s all been neglected because I’m trying to stay off the dead grass to avoid turning it into a dusty hellscape.
So, instead of methodically mowing entire sections with straight passes, I simply drove willy-nilly to any spot that had noticeable patches of tall growth while strategically avoiding any area of scorched turf. For the most part, I think it worked. Looks good enough to me for a drought-scape.
After the exhausting effort of sitting on the mower, or maybe it was the hours of pedalling earlier in the morning, I sat down in the yard with Asher. It didn’t take long for me to conk out in the chair. I’m happy to report that Asher was still there when I opened my eyes again. But we weren’t alone.
This was the sight that greeted me just to my left:
Was he trying to sneak up on me as I slept? I shuddered at the thought. At least snakes are much easier to spot in the scalded grass. I immediately pointed the snake out to Asher, hoping he would protect me from its advances.
He was entirely uninterested. Didn’t give it a second glance.
After a looong stare-down, the snake eventually did a 180 and rapidly headed for the cover of brush at the edge of the mowed yard. I reckon wildlife around our place must be putting a lot of energy into finding a drink of water lately. Maybe desperation led him to expose himself like that.
Extreme thirst can lead to some willy-nilly decisions, I suppose. I sure am glad my little nap ended when it did.
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Uninvited Visitor
We like to be very open and welcoming around here, but some guests from the animal kingdom are a little less welcome than others. I am not much of a fan of snakes, despite all the wonderful things about them.
Something deep in my brain holds an aversion and I’ve never found an urge to get over it.
For the most part, I try to ignore them and leave them be, hoping they are busy helping keep our other crawling critter populations in balance.
Lucky for me, I wasn’t the one who opened the big door to the chicken coop yesterday morning to be greeted by a healthy looking garter snake. That treat was reserved for Jackie, who happens to share my disdain for the creatures.
Cyndie reported using some sticks to evict the unwelcome intruder.
Our guess is the snake slithered up the ramp to the chicken door. Maybe, in its defense, it was after a mouse that had invaded. I hope it wasn’t thinking it could find an egg to eat. Too early for that. Our birds haven’t reached that level of maturity yet.
Since it was discovered first thing in the morning while they were opening the door, we suspect it had been in there all night. I’m told the chickens didn’t show any signs of distress over the intruder.
Although, maybe that explains why more of the birds are seeking high perches finally. Cyndie said she found two had made their way to the narrow ledge above the window, which makes them top chicks over the rest who settled for the two roost branches.
We saw this same behavior from last year’s flock when they were young. I’m guessing small space becomes a less appealing spot when they get to be full-sized.
So far, the twelve new birds have avoided calamity and are now beginning to show signs of social interest in our presence. I think it is related to their growing confidence in the territory they have mastered around the coop. As a group, they are starting to expand the distance of their excursions, and show a willingness to follow us more and more.
That’s one of the behaviors we particularly enjoyed with last year’s batch. It is nice to have the return of that added pleasure in our activities around this paradise.
Stumbling unexpectedly upon the presence of a snake… not so much.
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Relative Something 