After all the rain storms we have had this winter and spring everything at Reverie seems to grow faster, taller and more abundant now that the sun is out and so this means more upkeep on the land.
So I have been out with the chainsaw to cut away dead trees and bigger underbrush to keep our land as safe from fire hazard as possible and of course I have been out with the weed-whacker a few days in a row now to cut down all the grasses and blackberries and other weeds that are in undesirable places.
As I was clearing around one of the paths, the one next to the hammock between the two oak trees, I suddenly caught this long snake-looking thing half in the grass and half on the path and I just jumped as high and far away as I could… Now I’ve had to deal with quite a few snakes here in the past few years, always trying to find the most amicable solution to both the snake and me but this was the first time one of them snuck up on me this openly in the middle of the day.
Once I felt I was far enough away I put down the weed-whacker and took off my ear mufflers, which makes it really hard to hear a rattle snake rattle as a warning and this has always worried me a bit. I crept slowly to where I saw the snake to see if it was still there.
I had a hard time finding it which gave me some feeling of security that it had decided to flee the scene but yet I was still worried that it could have been a youngster that hadn’t really figured out the rattle part and was just laying in hiding, not giving me clear warning of its presence.
But I had to get the area cleared of weeds and so I wasn’t giving up. I slowly moved around to see if anything would move… AND YES, suddenly next to me something moved not more than a few inches and of course scared the bejewels out of me again. This time I had a clear location and when I looked closer it was a very large lizard… yes a lizard.
This lizard, lets call him Larry, was not really in a hurry to get moving and was under the impression that staying still was the best defense against the big dude with the weed-whacker.
I of course disagreed with that strategy and so urged it on to move towards the tree and get on it.
Once Larry was safe in the tree I could go on and clear the area and move out of his way.
#reverieretreat