Several readers wrote wondering what happened with the llama and goats that showed up at our place earlier this week. Well, thanks to one of our neighbors (Mike S.) we discovered that the owner was another neighbor (Mike W., about a half mile away) who had recently acquired this animals. Mike W. came over on Thursday and we roped a couple of the goats, and he took them home. The llama (named “Katie”) wasn't willing to be captured, so we just left our gate open. Sometime on Saturday, she apparently started missing her little goat-buddies, and she took off back home.
We are now a llama- and goat-free zone again! We suffered a little bit of damage to some of our trees (especially, of all things, the palo verde tree). Worse, one of the damned goats chewed the starter cord for my lawnmower in half, so now I have to fix that thing...
Sunday, April 28, 2013
A Close Encounter...
Yesterday afternoon I had a close encounter of the rattlesnake kind, in our yard. This is a routine summer occurrence out here, but this was the first of this calendar year.
I had all four dogs on leashes, and was walking past our pines, when I heard a fuss, a hiss, and lots of bird squawking. Just to my right, about six feet away, a pair of tiny canyon wrens was doing battle with a fairly large western diamondback rattlesnake. The wrens almost certainly have a nest in the vicinity, and were being good bird parents, getting that snake out of the area. The snake was quite unhappy at the unwanted attention it was getting, and was striking repeatedly at the wrens – but they were too quick for him to ever actually hit them.
I hustled the dogs back into the house, and got our snake stick (a roughly six foot long stick with a pair of tongs operated by a handle – lets me safely pick up snakes). Debbie got an empty five gallon plastic tub. When I grabbed that snake and picked it up, we got a good look at its size – about four feet long and roughly 3.5" in diameter in the middle. A big 'un!
Into the tub he went, and I bungeed down the top. I hauled him off to a remote area and released him, far from any homes or domestic animals. Usually when I release rattlesnakes, they sort of slowly slink away. This guy was still really upset, and he came straight for me, striking at the toe of my (heavy work) boot. No damage done, but certainly got my heart rate up!
I had all four dogs on leashes, and was walking past our pines, when I heard a fuss, a hiss, and lots of bird squawking. Just to my right, about six feet away, a pair of tiny canyon wrens was doing battle with a fairly large western diamondback rattlesnake. The wrens almost certainly have a nest in the vicinity, and were being good bird parents, getting that snake out of the area. The snake was quite unhappy at the unwanted attention it was getting, and was striking repeatedly at the wrens – but they were too quick for him to ever actually hit them.
I hustled the dogs back into the house, and got our snake stick (a roughly six foot long stick with a pair of tongs operated by a handle – lets me safely pick up snakes). Debbie got an empty five gallon plastic tub. When I grabbed that snake and picked it up, we got a good look at its size – about four feet long and roughly 3.5" in diameter in the middle. A big 'un!
Into the tub he went, and I bungeed down the top. I hauled him off to a remote area and released him, far from any homes or domestic animals. Usually when I release rattlesnakes, they sort of slowly slink away. This guy was still really upset, and he came straight for me, striking at the toe of my (heavy work) boot. No damage done, but certainly got my heart rate up!
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