Upon arrival, all seemed as I last left it. It was nice and quiet but it didn't take long to feel the heat. My country place is way further inland than my home in the city and it is always hotter in the summer at my lil country place and in the winter it is always colder there, significantly. I'm sure there is a scientific explanation for that but all I know is be prepared.
I like to sit by the front door and listen to the country sounds and clear my mind. I like to do that when I get there and mentally plan out what I would like to accomplish while there or plan out future projects.
So, I'm sittin' there enjoying the morning and about 15 minutes into my pondering I notice that to my right a good ways about 60 ft. away or so on the dried grass it looked like grey dull smoke coming right out of the grass, kinda like when someone drops a cigarette on dried grass and it starts to smoke. Note that I was not wearing my glasses. I thought to myself that it could not be smoke as there was no source of ignition; I mean the sun wasn't blazing yet or anything. But then I saw it again.....and it looked like the smoke was drifting towards my wood pile. This surely had my attention and by now I was sittin' on the edge of my chair gettin' ready to get up in about three seconds to check it out. In about two of those three seconds I was counting, it was right then that that was not smoke drifting....it was a rattle snake!
This is the first snake that I find on my property since I got it in the summer of '08. This rattler was every bit of four to five foot long. It had a good girth bout 3/4 size of my wrist. As it was slithering through the grass, the dull gray scales seriously gave it the effect of smoke(when yer not wearing prescription glasses). I've got four wooden pallets with mesquite wood stacks on all of 'em and the snake went right up under the pallets. I'm not fearful of snakes but I will admit that since I was going to be outside the majority of my visit, it made me a lil uneasy. I normally take my shotgun with me but today of all days I didn't have it with me. Rattlers are very common in this area and the conditions there are perfect for them. I am surprised it has taken me this long to notice one there.
After 'bout 20 minutes or so, I got up and piddled around a lil bit. I did a lil tree pruning, cleaned up piles of dirt, cactus, shingles and what not. I was gonna go mess with the scrap plywood that I have in my "recycled area" but that was a lil to close to the wood pile so I left that alone. By now it was really really hot so I got outta the sun for a water break. I went to my truck to make a phone call and the thermometer was reading 101 F. It sure felt like it!
After my phone call, a huge female cardinal flew onto the grass near the truck. I reached for my camera to capture it because it looked so pretty and just as I snapped the photo, I caught it in midflight. It's kinda cool so I wanted to share.
Here is the lil house that is still in the works. Its a start; at least I've got a closed in roof and can keep dry. I am getting rid of that nasty prickly bush to the left of the pic by the buckets. You should see the size of the thorns on those!
There is still alot of trim work to be done. The tall weeds will be mowed down....someday. After it does get mowed, it will likely stay dormant if we don't have too much more rain. My mesquite trees are puttin' out pods. I am going to try my hand at milling down the pods to flour. I did it last year but too late in the year. The flour is nutty and naturally sweet.
I've got to go now. I gotta get psyched up for work tomorrow and I'm tired. I hope you had a great weekend and thanks fer stoppin' by this lil place-o-mine.
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