Current

I don't like spiders 'n' snakes...

At least not the poisonous ones! Last week I ran into a neighbor/acquaintance at the WalMart (it's the only place to run into people). We hadn't seen each other since I worked on her daughter's telescope last spring. I asked how she'd been, noticing that her right hand seemed a little stiff. Turns out she had been bitten by a brown recluse spider on the tip of her finger at the end of June. She had been doing something around the trees in her back yard. The bite happened to hit a major nerve in the finger and the nerve seemed to "conduct" the venom right up her arm! She went to the ER right away and had to be airlifted to a major hospital. For awhile, they were just hoping to save her hand; as things improved, they thought she might only lose a few fingers and her thumb. Now it looks like she will have her whole hand, though there will be some nerve damage, maybe permanent. From what I can read about brown recluses, she was a dramatic exception, but I still hope I never find one.

Earlier today, as I was going out to a pasture to bring in the horses, thinking about too many things, I got a real start! I heard a "sssst!" from the grass, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a movement down there. I stopped still and focussed on the noise and movement. Yep, it was a snake. We have lots of "bull snakes" (local name, not sure exactly what they are) which are chocolate and yellow. They get cranky, but are not poisonous, and will try to escape if you don't get in their way. They will hiss and vibrate their skinny tail in the dead grass to warn you. We also have a smaller olive-colored snake that leaves in a hurry, and a few different colors of garter snakes. This one didn't sound like the bull snake or look like any of the others. Once I could see it, I got out of striking range and circled 'round it to be sure it was what I thought it was. Flat head with broad jaws, pits between nostrils and eyes, and the confirmation, a rattle! I just found my first prarie rattlesnake! It was still coiled, and I felt it would probably stay like that for a few minutes, so I left, slowly at first and then ran to the house and called to Dick, "Honey, bring your snake gun!" As luck would have it, he had been getting ready to go trap-shooting, and had a shotgun in his hand. He got a couple of cartridges and came out to where I was keeping track of the snake. He shot it, blasting it in half! It was pretty creepy, but better the snake than me or one of the animals. My dog had gotten bit by a rattler about a month ago - painful for him and expensive for us!

Ok, I can't just leave you thinking that all we have are deadly critters, so one last story....
As I was setting up the portable pasture this morning, I heard a flock of birds fly over the trees and down into the meadow. I glanced up, and saw about a dozen pheasant coming in! They were really amazing to watch. The cool thing is that once they are on the ground, they can't be seen.