Friday, May 21, 2010

Facing my Fears

Over the past 5 weeks I have continued to be "freaked out" over my fear of snakes. As of May 18 (this past Tuesday), we have encountered a total of 5 rattle snakes around our 2 acre property... having killed 4 of the 5 (one got away, slithering under our house). Out of the 5, 3 of them were discovered in our front yard within a foot or two from the foundation of the house.

#5 was a baby rattler that Kirk and Andrew killed which I had discovered after getting home from a Girl Scout meeting. After decapitating the thing, the kids made an observation that is was "kinda thick looking".

Had it just eaten something? ...we wondered~


Kelsie and Andrew decided it would be interesting to dissect it. Their motives... Kelsie, my academic prodigy says, "for the sake of science"; while Andrew, my typical curious boy, says, "because it's cool".
Sure enough!...

...this baby rattler had just eaten a lizard about the same size of it's own body- about 10-12" long.

EEEWWWWW! So gross!

As far as my personal fear of snakes, I'm still fearful; but am facing my fear with a proactive attitude. We all are carefully watching and looking when ever we go outside. We're keeping the grass cut short. and de-cluttering low growing landscape. We still haven't gotten any "barn cats" for our property, but plan to real soon. Having some outdoor kitties we're told will help keep the snakes away. We'll see about that!

5 comments:

Color me blingy! said...

Ok. Now I am fearful!

Etta said...

Oh my goodness - that's the creepiest thing!

Anonymous said...

Teri, when we lived below the big hill with the big Bingen sign at the top, there was a man who climbed that hill and caught rattlers and "milked" them and sold the venom. Every day before Mark could go out to play I'd check around the fence to make sure there were no snakes. The only one I saw was up at Al Henry's house. We killed it, that was almost 60 yr ago.
Bye love Aunt Betty from Oregon.

Terry @ La Bella Vie said...

OK so this is waaay too much for a Portland girl! I am an animal advocate but I can hardly keep my feet on the floor after this post! As Mark would say, Gimminy crickets! I really don't think I could go outsode knowing these babies are waiting for me!
Glad you became a follower to La Bella Vie, THANK YOU!
Terry
PS Love Betty and Arnold too!

Audrey said...

Teri,
How crazy is that!? My goodness, I never would have guessed it could eat something as large as itself! I'm glad you all are being vigilant and aren't getting bitten. I like the dissecting part of Biology, too, so I probably would have been right there watching/participating! I pray you are doing well amidst your adventures!
love,
Audrey