So Lester was collecting water from the river in buckets so he could water the trees.
And then straight across the river came a black snake, very long, swimming in a smooth undulation of self, with head above the water to keep its head dry I suppose.
Lester got a quite a fright, but fortunately it swam on to the bank. It is now roaming the farm.
Oh dear. Don't like that thought. Wouldn't want to bump into it, oh no.
And here's a strange thing. How come it is Thursday today, when on the calendar in our heads it is definitely Wednesday. I had been planning to have a wander round the local Thursday market tomorrow, and we are invited to a party down the road on Friday evening. All was neatly planned in my head. But no, a day has been done away with. And it is only by luck that I came across this loss of a day, which is a good thing because we would have rocked up for the party on Saturday night, when everyone would be probably hung over, ......It will be that sort of party, probably an all nighter, but not for us because 1) I don't drink because I fall asleep, and 2) we need to be in bed by twelve at the latest otherwise we don't function the next day. As for the Thursday market, I probably would not have gone to that because I have a growing aversion to spending money, whether it be on a market stall or at the supermarket. But Amazon.....that is a different story altogether!
It is getting on for mid night, and I still can't go to bed because I have to wait for the canner to finish canning four jars of chicken soup, which should have been finished a couple of hours ago but for some reason I put the lid on the canner the wrong way round, which stopped it from reaching canning pressure. This I only realised after it was still not at full pressure half an hour into the process. So I had to start all over again, but first had to let the canner de-pressurize. Oh well, not to worry. At least the job will soon be done.
Just ten minutes to go, so I shall say goodnight, and bye for now,
Vx
14 comments:
I like snakes well enough, just not as a suprise! Ick! Hopefully it will earn its keep by eating mice?
I wonder what your long black snake was? Could it have been just an ordinary Grass Snake that looked darker than it actually was? They are good swimmers.
It is well known that serpents can sometimes swallow entire days when you are not looking. My bet is that's why he crossed the river.
I sometimes lose a day I do wonder if they go to the same place as the missing socks, I know today is friday at least it was when I got up :-)
COTTONTAIL FARM, it's just that we have a lot of long grass quite close to the house and the snakes like to come out and sunbathe. Lester had to dispatch one last year because it got angry when he tried to shift it because it was lying across the barn doors and he couldn't get our two house cows in for milking!
CRO MAGNON, Lester said that it was a very big and long snake, like a Black Mamba, he said. But it was hot, and he was tired, so perhaps his memories of living his early days in Africa, where the snakes are really huge, thwarted his judgement a bit!
PIONEER PREPPY, Ahha! Now all is clear! The snake swallowed the day!
DAWN, Friday it still is! It felt so strange losing that day. Lester wondered if we had been abducted by aliens and then there is Pioneer Preppy's thoughts about the snake swallowing the day. Interesting notion about the socks, though. Could the two 'losses' be connected!
Love the sound of the chicken soup. How long will it keep for?
do you have poisonous snakes there!?! so glad Boolie is happy. it's very tough when they get old. i'm laughing about your chicks... ha! we are in the same boat.
:-)
KERRY, the soup is pressure canned so should last a year or so, although it will be used up long before then!
OHIOFARMGIRL, yes, some of our snakes are poisonous. And we really cannot be doing with having anymore chicks hatched this year, and you sound like you are the same! Boolie is doing alright, and heaven only know how he does it!
OHIOFARMGIRL (again!). I forgot to thank you about the advice you gave me about Blue's hot spot. We do use Frontline or something similar, plus I sprinkle diatomaceous earth in the beds. The hot spot does not seem to be growing, but I still think she does it to get attention because I have been making an extra fuss of her lately and she doesn't seem to be licking as much. I think she often feels left out....Maz is very bonded to Lester, and Boolie is my shadow, so she tends to get overlooked, and she is the one who gets into mischief the most which means she gets told off more than the others!
Vera, the snake was most likely a female Western Whiptail... or Coulevre Vert et Jaune... they live near water and are, like their relative the Grass Snake, very good swimmers.
Totally harmless, feeds on fish, frogs, beetles and slugs...and, more especially for you, rongeurs!!
It is the largest growing snake in France!!
The yellow is almost invisible... the green is a colour very close to Dutch green... 80% Black!! I call it the black snake!! The females can grow to 140cm and are 4 to 5 cm in diameter...
LaPré DeLa Forge, thanks for the info. Lester says that the snake he saw was bigger than that, but does fit your description. It is nice to know that at least it is not poisonous though!
Just been trying to catch up........ My blog will take a while to do just that, too much going on here after a month away but we had a great holiday. Meeting a blogger who works at the Grand Canyon was the star of the show, nothing like meeting a blogger and one who was our private guide as well :-) Take care Diane xx
Vera, the size difference will be down to Lester's eyesight and imagination...
unless we actually catch and measure...
everything always looks bigger.
I do it... all the time!!
We have a particularly large dragonfly here....
I have always reckoned that the book had it wrong...
it looks about three inches long...
two days ago, one presented itself to me...
it flew into the house!
So, after a night in the fridge to slow it down for photographing...
I measured it... book was spot on!! My estimation was an inch too big!!
In the water, there would have been little to judge against...
and, once on land, the original estimation would have fixed in the brain...
despite having things to measure against!!
Birds are the worst... there is nothing to compare with up there... and you don't really know the birds altitude... the only time you can be more accurate is if it is reacting with something you know the size range of...
so, call it your slithery helper and let her go about its business...
LaPré DelaForge, I think you are right, and Lester does have a tendency to exaggerate. Not to worry, I am reassured that it is not a man eating python come to eat me, and that it would most likely prefer not to cross my path!
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