"Mom, I'm going to the Dancing Lawn to play.""Do you have your long pants on?"
"Check."
"Do you have your snake boots on?"
"Check."
"Do you have your snake whistle on?"
"Check. I've got my canteen and my BB gun too."
"Okay. Have a nice time."
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Sounds about right for TX!
ReplyDeleteokay, for a non-Texan, snake whistle?
ReplyDeleteWe, in our valley, only have 3 kinds of snakes, garter snakes (the good snakes, unless your cat brings it in the house and lets it loose alive--we had three this summer), pointed tail snakes (small, slug-eating, shy snakes), and gopher snakes (constrictors that grow up to 4 feet long, but are not aggressive and live mainly on rodents). We also have rattle snakes that wander down from the hils occasionally, which the gopher snakes mimic if threatened, shaking their tails and hissing to mimic the rattle, and you have to look really closely to tell the difference.)
My folks on the coast found a rubber boa once too. But other than the rattlesnakes (which are nocturnal), most of the snakes here are innocuous and beneficial.
What's it like there?
Texas has several poisonous snakes but on top of that we live beside a marsh. We have encountered WAY TOO MANY Cottonmouth Water Moccasins and Copperheads. I never walk our fields without boots on. If someone gets bit he has a whistle to blow for help since he shouldn't and probably couldn't walk if bitten in the leg. Our property is too large to hear a shout. I DON'T like this part of living in Texas but I am used to it since I have lived in Arizona and Florida. My little sister was found playing with a Coral snake in her crib one day-I haven't forgotten that event! My dad has quite a collection of snake rattlers from his wanderings. I have many snake stories-yuck, nasty...
ReplyDeleteThe scorpions and black widows are nasty too. My daughter almost touched a black widow when she reached into an okra plant this summer. I pray A LOT!
Love it!!! He's all boy--got his gun and a canteen!
ReplyDeleteMakes Oregon all the lovelier. I have heard that most rattlesnake bites are "dry". Guess that's not the case with those other types...Aren't they also mostly nocturnal?
ReplyDeleteHA!! Great conversation :-)
ReplyDeleteToo cute!
ReplyDeleteWe have found only garter snakes in our yard. My son catches them!
Shudder! That comment about the black widow reminded me of something that happened to my sister this summer. She forgot to check for eggs during the day, so she went out at dark, reached in the nest box, got an egg out from under the chicken, reached in the next nest box, and felt something smooth and rounded slide under her hand. Needless to say, she never reaches into anything without looking first, now! And the five foot long black snake she found isn't stealing eggs anymore! :-)She's lucky it wasn't a copperhead, round these parts...
ReplyDeleteMy husband have kind of an invitation to come to Texas for a couple of years through his company. It would be a great way for our kids to be fluent in english. And it would be much easier for us to be allowed to homeschool, than it is here in Sweden.
ReplyDeleteBut these kind of stories make me feel uncertain about the whole idea... We have just one poisonos snake in Sweden, and it is very shy, not life-threatening to adults and normally less than 1 meter long. I am really afraid of snakes but I saw just one during the three years we lived close to the forest (they are almost never to be seen outside the forests) so I guess it is kind of foolish being afraid of snakes in Sweden. But in Texas...
By the way, there are no dangerous spiders here either!
/Malgomaj
Malgomaj,
ReplyDeleteMost of America has poisonous snakes but rarely do you hear of bites. We especially have them because we live beside a marshy lake. I seriously doubt you'd encounter snakes in your daily life while visiting Texas. They don't like people. Please don't let that discourage you from visiting Texas. (Although I doubt Texas is as lovely as Sweden.) The folks are very friendly, however. I just met a Swedish lady down the road from our house who has been here for 15 years. She loves it.