You know, there is a day for everything! I did not know there was a “World Snake Day”. It happens to fall on July 16th. How do I know this? As I usually do, I was googling images to go with today’s title (which we’ll get to in a mo) and found many images for “snake day”. I wonder when World Hippopotamus Day is – wait, I’ll google that – February 15th is World Hippo Day. Put that in your calendar right now so you won’t overlook it next year. Why are we calling today “snake day” even though we’re a week early? Keep reading to find out.
Sue sent me a couple photos today with the subject line “snake day”. It was an exciting day today, I’m (sorta) sorry that I missed it! The whole story is that we’ve had a rattler visiting, off and on, in the dove enclosure. He has not bothered the doves at all, he’s been eating the mice. Which is good. He first arrived a couple of weeks ago, I think I may have mentioned it. He ate so many mice that he couldn’t get out of the enclosure. Once he had digested his meal… he went on his merry way.
I guess that he got hungry, remembered that wonderful restaurant the doves were running, and decided to visit again. He was quite a sight. Startled Sue when he showed back up and she dropped the water container as she was putting it back in for the doves. Snake didn’t even move – she said. So, she filled the container back up and just placed it in the enclosure. He was still there yesterday evening, but was curled up right by the door that we use to change their food and water. We couldn’t very well reach in past him. I had horrible visions of someone getting bit. We tried to contact the fire department last night, but by then it was too late.
Today Sue got in touch with the Palominas Fire District guys, in the station that is right up the street from us. They came over in their snake getting truck – which looks like it was all kitted out for this sort of transport, and snagged the snake from his comfy restaurant seating and put him in a snake container to be relocated. Snakes are just doing their job around here, but when they get that close and then just camp out – it’s time to do something.
This is not a photo of our guy, but a photo of the same type. He was a Mojave Rattler. He didn’t look very big when he was all coiled up in the enclosure, but Sue said he was about three feet long when they lifted him up and he stretched himself out. He did rattle at them, but he wasn’t overly aggressive. Luckily for the firemen, Sue, and the doves.
Whew. That was amazingly exciting for us. The other things that went on today were mundane, by comparison. First thing this morning, after chores, we moved the small chicken tractor over by the Dinky House, under the apple and walnut trees. We placed it there so the little meat birds would have shade throughout the hot parts of the day. Then, we went ahead and moved them all out there. They seemed unaffected by the whole thing. They said, “Hey! What’s this green stuff. I know, let’s eat it!” Then they plunked themselves down and munched away on the grass until Sue gave them some feed. They are now going to be eating high protein meat bird food for the next four weeks or so. Here’s a photo of them, all lined up, enjoying the evening breeze. This evening, we put up the electric fence and Sue will finish hooking everything up tomorrow. They will spend tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night in the tractor – so that they know it is home – and then get to roam around beginning Thursday morning.
The last few days have been more mild than normal… some higher winds yesterday, but we haven’t had to worry about the chickens in the heat since July 4th. Sue took this photo from afar the other day… a bevy of hens taking dust baths while Olaf the Rooster acts as lookout. I tried to zoom in a bit so you can see what she was getting, started to get blurry though. Previously, it had been too hot for them to enjoy their baths. Everyone is liking these cooler temps, although it did reach 99° today; Sue said the breeze kept it tolerable for the birds and it wasn’t as muggy as it has been.
We’re still trying to get plants in the ground and keep up with the watering. Every time we look at the “nursery” area, we seem to think out loud, “we’ve gotta get these in the ground”. Time is elusive. There are always more important, or rather more pressing projects to take care of. Like today, we had to move the chickens because the next set of chicks is supposed to arrive tomorrow morning; had to free up the brooder area for them. These things happen, so we just keep plugging along. The new herbs and flowers in the gabion 
gardens are looking nice though. Got a bee in my bonnet when we thought we were going to have some summer company, so was trying to spruce up the flower beds. At least we’re making progress. Sue dug some holes today for me, while she was waiting for the fire dudes to arrive, so I can put four roses in the ground along the back walkway. You can kinda see the holes in the photo towards the right, along the walk way. That’s gonna be quite nice, I think. So, that’s all the news I can think of at the moment. If the new chicks get here tomorrow, we’ll take some photos and share that with you on Thursday. Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading!
Today’s Weather: It’s been beautiful, as I have said. Today the high was 99°. Currently, at 8:11 p.m., it is 84° with 21% humidity and winds w t 4 mph, pressure 29.85 inHg. Overnight low is forecast at 66°. Sunrise today was at 5:22 and sunset was at 7:26. Looks like we’ll be in for another warm day tomorrow with quite a bit of cloud coverage in the afternoon. No rain predicted.
Egg Report: Sunday – 36 chicken, 4 duck. Monday – 33 chicken, 3 duck. Tuesday – 37 chicken, 2 duck.
Wing and a Prayer 