Actually About Reptiles, Nothing More
You can tell it's summer by how many garter snakes are smashed in the residential area streets.
I keep working at ways to encourage them to come live at my house while others work hard at keeping them away. I can feel the anger of the hood directed at me...just kidding.
I know most people don't like snakes, or in other words, HATE them. I understand that sentiment. But I appreciate snakes. I could list a bunch of reasons why but I won't. Instead Ill submit some interesting past associations with snakes. Interesting to me...
We lived in my father's family's little ramshackle house on 80 acres in the country. This place was exceedingly old and not in a good way. Not in the vintage sorta way. However, it was a wonderful place for me to grow into and develop my naturalist mentality.
I remember the first snake encounter. My sister and brother were at school so I was playing outside by myself. I spied what I believed to be a copperhead(poisonous, Simon) but thinking back, since my mother didn't go haywire I wonder now if it was. I ran in and told her and she said to get a hoe (garden implement, people) and kill it. So I committed reptile-cide. For the first and last time in my life.
We had a massive blackberry bramble there that, even after we moved into town, we picked from it in the summers. My father farmed this 80 acres as well. So we heard stories from him about the huge black snake that would be ambling across the cotton field and make a mad dash for the blackberry bush. It had been plowed over once or twice and had the scars to prove it. We assumed it was hiding in the blackberry bush which made picking berries very scary.
Then someone torched the house one night and when we went to look at the smoldering remains, there was a blue racer snake that hadn't raced quite fast enough out of the fire. It's back half was fried. The black snake was never spotted any more either.
Another time, we were camping one summer near a river. My brother and I took off on a walk. I was being silly and walking right behind him step for step. All at once he stopped and I bumped right into him. I looked around him and saw a huge black snake of some kind coiled very near us. He wasn't paying any attention and almost stepped right on it. We ran screaming back to the campsite. It is sweet to use that against him every now and then.
In my more mature years (don't laugh- it's true) I've managed to keep black snake eggs that were laid by a very large female in my garden straw bales and hatch them. I've even had a chance to lose two hatchlings in the house. That was freaky, yes...
And at this very same house in the country I had many encounters with different snakes -nothing but sightings really.
J stepped on a copperhead barefooted at this very house while his father still lived in the house. . It's the only time I ever heard of one there. It didn't bite him thankfully.
I kept my lookout for those since the kids were small. I even got a couple of dogs to help out in that manner.
I keep working at ways to encourage them to come live at my house while others work hard at keeping them away. I can feel the anger of the hood directed at me...just kidding.
I know most people don't like snakes, or in other words, HATE them. I understand that sentiment. But I appreciate snakes. I could list a bunch of reasons why but I won't. Instead Ill submit some interesting past associations with snakes. Interesting to me...
We lived in my father's family's little ramshackle house on 80 acres in the country. This place was exceedingly old and not in a good way. Not in the vintage sorta way. However, it was a wonderful place for me to grow into and develop my naturalist mentality.
I remember the first snake encounter. My sister and brother were at school so I was playing outside by myself. I spied what I believed to be a copperhead(poisonous, Simon) but thinking back, since my mother didn't go haywire I wonder now if it was. I ran in and told her and she said to get a hoe (garden implement, people) and kill it. So I committed reptile-cide. For the first and last time in my life.
We had a massive blackberry bramble there that, even after we moved into town, we picked from it in the summers. My father farmed this 80 acres as well. So we heard stories from him about the huge black snake that would be ambling across the cotton field and make a mad dash for the blackberry bush. It had been plowed over once or twice and had the scars to prove it. We assumed it was hiding in the blackberry bush which made picking berries very scary.
Then someone torched the house one night and when we went to look at the smoldering remains, there was a blue racer snake that hadn't raced quite fast enough out of the fire. It's back half was fried. The black snake was never spotted any more either.
Another time, we were camping one summer near a river. My brother and I took off on a walk. I was being silly and walking right behind him step for step. All at once he stopped and I bumped right into him. I looked around him and saw a huge black snake of some kind coiled very near us. He wasn't paying any attention and almost stepped right on it. We ran screaming back to the campsite. It is sweet to use that against him every now and then.
In my more mature years (don't laugh- it's true) I've managed to keep black snake eggs that were laid by a very large female in my garden straw bales and hatch them. I've even had a chance to lose two hatchlings in the house. That was freaky, yes...
And at this very same house in the country I had many encounters with different snakes -nothing but sightings really.
J stepped on a copperhead barefooted at this very house while his father still lived in the house. . It's the only time I ever heard of one there. It didn't bite him thankfully.
I kept my lookout for those since the kids were small. I even got a couple of dogs to help out in that manner.
posted by Unknown at 6:41 AM
5 Comments:
The Chinese eat black snake eggs to enhance 'quick-wittedness'. I guess this explains a lot about you.
I think that would explain why you've never met a slow witted Chinese person.
And let me be clear- I have not, nor would I eat a snake egg unless things were really bad. I'll stay slow witted, thank you very much!
Lately, I have seen a few snakes stretched out in the road, too. Mostly king snakes I think. Only on one occassion have I seen a snake in the yard. He was about 4 feet long. He was hiding at the base of a bush.
I have never seen a copper head either.
I dont hate snakes, and I know what a copperhead is, Im not THAT much of an ignoramus! My sister actually owns a corn snake... she's had it for a few of years now, its really nice.
I didn't know if they had the same kind of snakes in the British Isles or if you were up on the United States list of poisonous snakes. I certainly wouldn't think of you as an ignoramus.
Corn snake? How beautiful!
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