Month: May 2012

I’ll tell you… This week has been exhausting in the drama category.

And if you’re like me, Counting Saturday as the first day of a new week… That’s saying something!

Right now various things going on in my world make reality television preferable to real life.

If you combined Torch Song Trilogy, The Bird Cage,  and  General Hospital,  You might just come close!

Thankfully there’s only one small part that is actually MY Drama. The rest all belongs to other people, but I still hear about it and am apparently expected to make reassuring sounds.

This is one of those times when I feel like Dr. Sheldon Cooper on the Big Bang Theory.  About all I can muster is an awkward simulation of caring and the occasional and wholly inadequate “There, There”

However I have the house to myself, I was sitting in a Five Guys having a burger and realized that the minimal crowd was making me antsy. That’s usually a good sign that I’ve had enough PEOPLE and need to find a quiet place to put my feet up and put the rest of the world on ignore.

I’ve spent way more money this week than I should have.  It may ultimately  be for a good cause and result in income. But spending the cash was stressful. Additional stress is that I now have to do something constructive with the domains and webs sites I’ve purchased. To some extent I’m exhilarated by the challenge and at the same time I’m wondering if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew.

Time will tell… If I’ve fucked up OH well!

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And to that little fucker in Bogota who snaked a domain name I was researching THE VERY DAY I checked to see if the domain name was available… 

KISS MY ASS!

I will not buy the domain from you.

I suspect you own a website listed in google searches. I further suspect that you use the queries about available domain names people enter to snake the web sites from them before they can register them. Then I’m guessing your scam is to offer to sell the domains at a significant profit. You may call that business… I call it being a fucker!

I refuse to play. Enjoy your ownership of that website for the year. I’m sure you’ll do all kinds of interesting things with it.

 

Yes, I am getting new neighbors… They’re moving in a little at a time and seem to be very nice people. they’re a small family unit with a 3 year old boy. 

The little boy is surprisingly verbal and very well behaved.

I’m thinking that these people will be very much better than the previous folks.

Yesterday I spent most of the day puttering around in the yard. 

I had a long list of minor nuisance items to do.

I planted two new blackberry bushes, tried a seed experiment with some grass in the front yard, weed whacked, and repaired the sprinkler system. 

The Sprinkler system was the long pole item. It was one of those situations where every time I got one problem corrected another problem popped up in the next valve down the line. After disassembling and reassembling 4 out of the 5 valves I managed to concentrate all the evil in one valve which thankfully is on a disused zone. 

At some point I will bring that zone online so I’ll have to replace the valve… but for now well I’m watering what needs watering and I’ve got some time to shop around for the best price.

While I was working on the valve assembly enjoying the “fun” of Spring chores. I suddenly had the hair on the back of my neck stand up. At first I couldn’t figure out what caused that rather primitive reaction and was ready to chalk it up to a chilly breeze then I heard the sound clearly.

What had set off the alert in the more primitive portion of my brain was the distinct sound of snake scales in dry brush. For those of you who may have heard this sound you know what I”m talking about. For those of you who’ve never heard it… the best way I can describe the sound is this;

Close your eyes and imagine the sound of dry leaves rustling on an Autumn day. Now imagine that sound as having just the faintest of rhythmic sound to it and now imagine that sound having a very definite directional quality to it. It’s either coming toward you or moving away from you.

That should get you in the ball park, if the hair on the back of your neck stood up you’ve managed to activate your defense mechanism regarding snakes.

I’m pretty mellow about snakes. They’re a fact of life around here and as the Bushmen of the Kalahari say “You just have to watch out for the sharp end”

However in this case the snake was not clearly visible and I was thinking about the 3 year old boy that I’d heard playing next door. 

Having been raised in the South Eastern United States I grew up with four poisonous snakes in my environment: Rattlesnakes, Copperheads, Water Moccasins, and Coral Snakes.  

I have seen all varieties in my travels and only felt it absolutely necessary to kill one snake ever. That was a rattlesnake,  he & I couldn’t come to an arrangement about going our separate ways. I was sorry about it but I was the Apex Predator in town and he wasn’t respecting that fact.

Not being able to clearly see this snake I called over to the new neighbors and asked where the little boy was. Someone called back that he was inside and I called back not to panic but a snake was heading their way. 

At this point I was sincerely hoping that we didn’t have screaming panic. 

I was pleasantly surprised when the little boys mom called back in a calm voice “Where? Can you tell what kind?” I called back that I couldn’t clearly see it and where it was coming through the lilacs.

When I joined her on her side of the lilacs we both watched the snake make his appearance. She said, “Oh that looks a bit like a rattlesnake doesn’t it?” Again she’s calm and cool and I’m thinking,  “Great she’s my kind of people.”

Then we see the snakes tail and there’s no rattle. We watch the snake as he goes about his business and I explain that I’ve seen a couple of kinds of snakes around our local area and that the previous owner of the house & I had a live and let live attitude, besides they help with the rodent population. The new neighbor smiled and said she was good with that approach.

Then she asked about the varieties I’d seen. I told her we have a California King and now our new friend. We also have two types of rattlesnakes here, one is the Pacific Rattlesnake and the other is the Mojave Green Rattlesnake. Both are pretty reclusive and given the opportunity to retreat… They will! Other than those two guys, I don’t think we have anything else dangerous. The Neighbor smiled and told me that things at this end of town are a lot more interesting than where they’d been living. She was looking forward to it.

Yeah, definitely my kind of people!

I managed to snap a few bad pictures of our new reptilian neighbor. I hope that he finds the hunting good in the neighborhood.

I think I managed to ID him. He’s a Pacific Gopher Snake.  I consider him a welcome addition to the neighborhood.

Lately, we’ve not had as many Coyotes or birds of prey around,  as a result we’re noticing a lot more rodents. Perhaps between our new Gopher Snake and the old California King Snake, we wont have to worry about poisoning to thin the rodent population we’ll just have fat snakes.

Spring rolls along the temps are mild and I frequently forget to put sunscreen on. Today is an inside day, I got a bit of a sunburn yesterday and I’m sporting a solid Red Neck. So much for my being incognito!