WARNING: Copperhead Snake Killed

In the woods you never know what you may meet.

This one was a little upset.

Since pit vipers give off an odd smell when disturbed my pack found it quickly.

Cautiously they assessed the danger.

They do NOT kill harmless snakes.

They are a well trained pack.

They made

quick work of it.

 Only seconds passed.

After all a pack's job is to keep the pack and its leader safe.

It was big.  It was mad.  It wasn't backing down.

Copperheads are poisonous.

 The dogs

paid a price...note the swelling where they were bitten.

Told you that snake was MAD!

The dogs were fine within 24 hours.

They are good dogs, just how we trained them.

Pieces

of a day

a rusty weather vane

When we went to the garden to work I told Hubby I smell a skunk. He looked at me like I had gone crazy.  He smelled nothing.  The dogs and I did!  I worked in the garden as the dogs tracked down the smell.  A disturbed Copperhead snake gives off a musky smell, not unlike a skunk.  I guess the snake was pretty disturbed.  Good dogs found it and took care of it and I knew nothing.  Until Hubby salvaged some pieces.  All the farm dogs helped, that's why there so many pieces.  I certainly am glad they have my back.

Bonnie and Junior inspect one piece they had left.

Good dogs!!!

Gooooood dogs!

Scary looking?  Imagine one biting you.

Reminded me of a version of the song we used to jump rope to:

Yellow, yellow Cinderella

Went upstairs to kiss a fella

Made a mistake 

And kissed a snake

How many doctors 

Did it take?

One 

Two

Three...

and you counted each successful jump of the rope.  I don't think kissing a snake has ever crossed my mind...it was just a good rhyme for jumping rope.

Something Said, Take The Camera...

but did I listen?  Nooooooooooo and I regretted it.  The dogs were barking, Ki, Junior and Squiggie were baying, barking, singing a wild dog song.   Knowing my dog's barks I heard, "Danger!"

As I approached the Borders joined the melee. Rarely vocal, the Borders assessed the situation quickly.  With a simple no nonsense motion, Lil stepped in, silently, swiftly removed the snake, ending the canine chorus with one deadly shake.  Ki and Squiggs jumped in for their piece...of the Copperhead.  Within fifteen seconds of my arrival, the poisonous snake lay in pieces so  scattered I couldn't determine the original size.  All that mattered was one less poisonous snake.

During Junior's first poisonous snake encounter he acted safely and cautiously while trying to remove the snake from between the rock and the fence post.  The three from the small team darted in, grabbed and retreated.  Then came Lil, Big Bad Lil, never one to waste a motion, she quickly extracted and executed the snake in one whiplash move.

Ki, foaming at the mouth, from the terrible taste of a poison snake, dropped her piece but gained another during the farm dog dance of success.  The barking had ended.   The words, Good Dogs, were spoken generously.

I returned to the house, proud of my little pack of farm dogs, doing their job well...and still kicking myself for having no camera!

Watch Out, Pat! A Marcy Adventure...

 WARNING FOR PAT!  


Marcy heard Squiggie barking as she was bringing mail to my house.  Knowing the bark, Marcy detoured to check.  This what is she found in my rock garden.

These are not National Geographic pictures,

but imagine finding this,

trying to decide how to kill it

while taking pictures!

She did all this for you!

Marcy said,  I have pictures for your blog!

She had to kill it with a square shovel,

in between rocks.

Not an easy job!

Lil was not around at the moment,

and she's the snake killer,

every one else is learning.

Marcy...one. 

Snake...zero!

The dogs were very proud of their warning system.

Squiggie on the far left was the discoverer.

Ki-Anne got bitten

and looks like she has a waddle

instead of a neck.

She will be fine and has learned a valuable lesson.

Lil finally showed up,

gave the snake a death shake

and was satisfied with Marcy's work.

Thanks, Marcy, for killing the snake in my yard

and for the great photos!

Another Purpose For Bird Netting

Our main use for bird netting is to protect the plants from birds so we may have a full  harvest.  As we use the netting, we discover new purposes.  It does make a wonderful cat toy but you must keep an eye out for someone possibly getting tangled.

Today, Marcy discovered another purpose...

Can you guess?

Here's another hint...freshly shed skin and bright colors.

Sometime during the night a Copper Head Snake

had entangled itself in the netting.

Alert!  Poison!

He was dispatched humanely.

I wonder where the mate is?

The Things I Did

after work Saturday should have sweated the rest of the sick outta me.  I made piles.  Oh, the pleasure I had watching those piles grow.  Do you have a place around your house, where you just lay something til later and later never comes?   This is a collection of some of those piles: a broken flower pot, sun worn ice cream buckets used to hold small bits, an old box I was going to use and a chair broken during the ice storm that I was going to fix...

The yard crew (Hubby and Beverly) was mowing yesterday.  East of the house, near the old tractor tire water garden, a copperhead snake was spotted but escaped.  This guy is poison and we do not really like having one this close to the house.  Heck, we don't like having them at all!

Today after work, I tackled the jungle.  My goal to clear the way for easy snake spotting, open it up for easier mowing and pick up some damaged things I had not disposed of yet.  I wish I had taken before pictures but you can measure the piles and imagine the befores because I only have afters.

The elderberries had taken over around the water garden.  Something is eating the limbs so off they came.  A super thinning of plant life took place or a butchering, depends on how you look at it.

This USED to be a great sweeping, beautiful Texas or Blackberry Rose.  I believe I shared some pictures of its blooms.  Well, there ain't no blooms now!  In the heart of this bush is where the copperhead chose to rest when he was spotted yesterday.

Now I have two, no, three big piles full of plantain, violets, blackberry rose and elderberries topped with sticks, dead pecans and limbs and debris from the old tractor tire.  It is over ninty degrees and the humidity is 76%.  I am not sweating like a horse, I am lathered.

You can see around the tire!!!!  The refilling water is clear!  No snakes in site but I did find a marvelously, huge bull frog in my hostas and welcomed him.  Hope I did not scare him off.

Hostas visible, lillies visible, rocks visible...just a  mere few hours later.  This was my resting spot on the log, I would sit and drink a tall cool drink as I pondered my next move.

I have seen the elephant and he is bare!  He was covered with Virginia Creeper.  It is not perfect by any means but much closer.  The plow share is visible and all/most snake hidey holes are gone.

This is on the east side of the lodge and welcomes the morning sun.  Now I can greet the morning sun in relative safety...in this hard won spot.  Man, I am pooped!

 You can read about The Old Tractor Tire by typing the words into my search at the upper left hand side of page.