… voices in me said, If you were a man
You would take a stick and break him now, and finish him off.But must I confess how I liked him,
How glad I was he had come like a guest in quiet, to drink at my water-trough
And depart peaceful, pacified, and thankless,
Into the burning bowels of this earth?- from D H Lawrence, “Snake”
We’ve seen lots of wild animals in the last week. A skunk has been seen visiting the garden, and a raccoon peeking into the house during the daytime. I had to swerve to avoid crashing the car into a tarantula crossing the blacktop. The dry weather has started to take its toll on the vegetation and the animals are having to look harder for food.
Comments (6)
He’s very dapper. Nice.
Think I would have just run that tarantula down. Wow, thats a pretty long snake. I havent seen any snakes this year but we did have a skunk on the front porch. Now I never go out at night without turning on the light. We are also overrun with lizards and frogs.
That’s a long fellow. No rattles? I’d be OK with him too.
Bill,
Quick-draw with the camera, man! Well done. And I love the Lawrence poem. On my 15 year old car is a bumper sticker that’s nearly as old: “I Break for Snakes.”
Thanks for your comment on the Plant Rights piece…
and for your dandy suggestion to close comments on posts more than X days old. I finally figured out how to do that and have been spam free since.
Keep on snaking,
J.
I live where all of the snakes are non-poisonous! WHat kind is that? Bull snake? COrn Snake?
I only lived in one place that had rattlers, and that was Nevada, and they would come right into your house!! (SHUDDER!!!!)
I do believe that’s a Texas Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta lindheimeri). I like them, but my dad is apt to kill one if he sees it since they rob our chicken house.