In one of my past blogs, I wrote about the garden pests and friends. I would like to expand on this subject as I have other visitors that I haven’t seen before since I moved here in 1993. On Friday as I was working in the yard, I saw something out of the ordinary a small black snake moving quickly across the lawn. It was too small for Ophelia. Upon closer inspection, I saw a small snake about 18” long that was red, black and yellow. I look at it as I tried to remember the poem that is used to determine the difference between the coral snake and the king snake. Ken Bultman writes on the website Scienceray:
“To the newcomer who has not seen either reptile coming across the harmless king snake causes many to believe they have encountered a deadly coral snake. The result is often the needless dispatching of a beautiful creature that means no harm except to small rodents and large insects. There is a poem (I did not write it) that locals try to teach new residents upon their arrival to help them distinguish between the two varieties of snakes–one poisonous, one not. “Red on yellow, kill a fellow. Red on black, friend of Jack.”
This is a great reminder but when you actually are look straight at it, you can get confused. This one was definitely a coral snake. Normally, I would kill any venomous snake that come on the property, but it was so beautiful, I just could not bring myself to do it. Not to mention, the little bastard was very fast. So I let it scurry into the woods unharmed.
As I had mentioned in the past, I have many pests on the property including several tribes of ants, spiders and tree frogs (who seem to think coming inside of the house is the safest place to be.) When I work in my flower beds, I literally, sit in the dig up weeds in the beds. I do this by loosening the soil with a potato fork and then snaking my hands through the soil to get the root system. If you can get the entire system, no more weeds. If you leave one piece of root, they continue to grow. While I am doing this, I am often attacked by angry ants and the battle begins. I through chemicals to kill them, but to them it is candy. So now I am following the advice of a friend who told me to take part of one colony and put is by another one and then they fight to the death. This is fun to watch. Although, mostly I deal with the ants, I am also exposed to every other bug in the yard. One time, a spider got me. I am sure it was a brown recluse as my leg swollen twice it size and was very painful. When I went to the hospital, I left after sitting in an empty waiting room for 4 hours and went home. I kept the let elevated and used some natural oils to help draw out the poison. It took about four or five days but like I was once told by a nurse, “you are such a man by refusing to go to the hospital.” I said, screw and waited it out.
Throughout the years, I have also witness some creatures that just add to my reasons for living here. Besides the common yard birds such as sparrows, blue jays, finches and cardinals, I have barn and screech owls. I love the owls. One night while sitting in the yard with friends, we witness one of the funniest sights you can see. Two owls that were flying down and then swooping up and bump in mid air. They repeated this same pattern for quit awhile. It was the funniest this to watch. The next day, I asked one of my older neighbors about this and was informed that we were watching the mating ritual of the barn owl. They certainly were exhibitionists, because they did not mind the audience. When they were done, they landed on some nearby branches. As the female smoked a satisfying cigarette, the male simply turned away from her and went to sleep. Men are such pigs.
I also have several have hawks, deer, raccoons and possums that share my property. Every so often, I have had some very strange experiences with animals. Once, I had a cattle stampede, of about 50 cows, run past us like we were not there. Though, the most unusual was a Florida panther that was walking through the property. It was interesting because we found that no matter how big the kitty, they are still afraid of dogs. My Rottie and lab proudly treed this cat for about an hour before we got the dogs and let it go on its way.
So as with everything else in life you take the good with the bad and find middle ground. Yes, I have found some of the really bad visitors that really could have done some damage, but, then I look at the good. Who needs a zoo when all I have to do is sit and watch the world go by and welcome the visitors as they come. The one thing I have learned, is when you talk to the animals, they will talk to you. You just cannot find this in the city.
“To the newcomer who has not seen either reptile coming across the harmless king snake causes many to believe they have encountered a deadly coral snake. The result is often the needless dispatching of a beautiful creature that means no harm except to small rodents and large insects. There is a poem (I did not write it) that locals try to teach new residents upon their arrival to help them distinguish between the two varieties of snakes–one poisonous, one not. “Red on yellow, kill a fellow. Red on black, friend of Jack.”
This is a great reminder but when you actually are look straight at it, you can get confused. This one was definitely a coral snake. Normally, I would kill any venomous snake that come on the property, but it was so beautiful, I just could not bring myself to do it. Not to mention, the little bastard was very fast. So I let it scurry into the woods unharmed.
As I had mentioned in the past, I have many pests on the property including several tribes of ants, spiders and tree frogs (who seem to think coming inside of the house is the safest place to be.) When I work in my flower beds, I literally, sit in the dig up weeds in the beds. I do this by loosening the soil with a potato fork and then snaking my hands through the soil to get the root system. If you can get the entire system, no more weeds. If you leave one piece of root, they continue to grow. While I am doing this, I am often attacked by angry ants and the battle begins. I through chemicals to kill them, but to them it is candy. So now I am following the advice of a friend who told me to take part of one colony and put is by another one and then they fight to the death. This is fun to watch. Although, mostly I deal with the ants, I am also exposed to every other bug in the yard. One time, a spider got me. I am sure it was a brown recluse as my leg swollen twice it size and was very painful. When I went to the hospital, I left after sitting in an empty waiting room for 4 hours and went home. I kept the let elevated and used some natural oils to help draw out the poison. It took about four or five days but like I was once told by a nurse, “you are such a man by refusing to go to the hospital.” I said, screw and waited it out.
Throughout the years, I have also witness some creatures that just add to my reasons for living here. Besides the common yard birds such as sparrows, blue jays, finches and cardinals, I have barn and screech owls. I love the owls. One night while sitting in the yard with friends, we witness one of the funniest sights you can see. Two owls that were flying down and then swooping up and bump in mid air. They repeated this same pattern for quit awhile. It was the funniest this to watch. The next day, I asked one of my older neighbors about this and was informed that we were watching the mating ritual of the barn owl. They certainly were exhibitionists, because they did not mind the audience. When they were done, they landed on some nearby branches. As the female smoked a satisfying cigarette, the male simply turned away from her and went to sleep. Men are such pigs.
I also have several have hawks, deer, raccoons and possums that share my property. Every so often, I have had some very strange experiences with animals. Once, I had a cattle stampede, of about 50 cows, run past us like we were not there. Though, the most unusual was a Florida panther that was walking through the property. It was interesting because we found that no matter how big the kitty, they are still afraid of dogs. My Rottie and lab proudly treed this cat for about an hour before we got the dogs and let it go on its way.
So as with everything else in life you take the good with the bad and find middle ground. Yes, I have found some of the really bad visitors that really could have done some damage, but, then I look at the good. Who needs a zoo when all I have to do is sit and watch the world go by and welcome the visitors as they come. The one thing I have learned, is when you talk to the animals, they will talk to you. You just cannot find this in the city.
You have now written about one of the reasons I don't do gardening. I am not receptive to bugs. In Florida they tend to get really big. Snakes are not my cup of tea either. I don't care if they are poisonous or not. They can wrap themselves around me. YIKES! I am happy seeing your gardens on this blog, and letting you interact with wildlife.
ReplyDeleteI saw a coral snake some time ago at PCC. That freaked me out. I have black racers around where I live, and my mom claims to have seem a coral snake around here. I'd really rather not live around vipers. I hear they're pretty docile though, as long as you don't mess with them - or accidentally step on them.
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