June 9, 2017 Our First Rattlesnake Of The Year

The rounds waiting to
be split.

The lilac blooms.

The rattle snake next to
JB's size 10.

Wednesday 6/7. We were up and at'em early this morning.  JB had banana bread in the oven before he even ate breakfast.  I called Sandy to wish her Happy Birthday (she is older than I am).

JB cut the two logs we pulled up yesterday into 21 16" rounds.  I loaded them into the tractor bucket and he drove them over to the splitter.  Then, after lunch, I split three bucket loads that JB took to the wood shed where I stacked them.

It was a busy, warm day with a high of 77.  The first roses have bloomed Up Here.  This is the first year where I have experienced all the different wild flowers blooming at the same time.  The early blooms are waning as the new ones appear.  So many colors!

Thursday 6/8. It was 54 this morning and cloudy with rain in the forecast.  I was on my way Down There by 9:00 to buy a few more plants, ice, etc.  Rain began to fall at my last stop and it was really coming down by the time I arrived home at noon. 

There is no garden that man could plant that would be as amazing as the one Mother Nature has planted along our road.  Absolutely incredible!

After lunch the rain had stopped, so I went out to plant the flowers I bought.  Bright petunias and pansies now also decorate the yard.  As I was checking out the lilac bush, and trying to lift up a low branch heavily laden with blooms with a piece of wood, I noticed a snake coiled up right under the bush.  I yelled and jumped back, not sure if it was a bull snake or rattler.  JB heard me from inside the house and brought my snake stick.  Since it was so cool, the snake was smart enough not to move since he could not move very fast.  I pulled at it with my stick, and sure enough, it was a rather large timber rattler!  I cut off its head with the sharp end of my stick and then cut off its rattles with a knife.  Ten rattles on this one, and it was more than two feel long.  When it was all over, I started to shake and didn't really calm down for a few hours.  Orange flavored vodka in a cup of hot cocoa helped. . .

Another rain shower moved in around 4:30 pm and lasted about an hour.  Our high for the day was 64.  The temperature dove to 45 by the time the sun went down, and the wind blew the clouds away.

We started watched the first season of Longmire a few nights ago.  One of our favorites.

Friday 6/9. It is a chilly 42 this morning with clear skies.  We have a fire in the wood stove. . .

Thought for the day: One evening, when I was yet in my nurse's arms, I wanted to touch a tea kettle, which was boiling.  My nurse would have taken me away from the kettle, but my mother said, "Let him touch it."  So I touched it - and that was my first lesson of liberty.  John Ruskin