Socks and Skies and Snakes

WARNING: This post contains photos of a snake. They will be at the very end of the post, and I'll give you fair warning as to when to stop reading. And now, back to our regularly scheduled blog entry.


We'll start with the socks. My second BBS is almost done. I've only half an inch to go before starting toe decreases. Since I am so close to being done, I'm going to wait to post a picture. Frankly, I'll be so glad to be finished. These are like the socks that never end.


The sky started off perfectly clear--one of those solid blue rectangles. By lunch time, clouds were beginning to move in, so I snapped this picture. By late afternoon, the sky was completely clouded over.

A few weeks ago, I was reading a blog entry by an Australian who was at the time in the US. She was going on an outdoor adventure of a kind which I don't remember, and mentioned that one of her acquaintances had warned her to watch out for poison ivy. The blogger mentioned that she had no idea what poison ivy looked like. I wish I could find said blog once again, because poison ivy grows in abundance in my yard.

Yes, that is all poison ivy, and here is a closeup, for easy identification:

My little man was quite proud of himself. He was finally allowed to mow the yard:

He mowed all 3 acres, and did a right good job of it, too. If it had been up to me, he'd have been mowing years ago, but the lawnmower belongs to J.

One last item before I get to the snake.

I'm not normally a bag person. My definition of purse has always been "a handy way to lose everything at once." It follows that I don't scream and squeal over them. I've carried the same denim fanny pack for years, and it replaced one that looked just like it. That's why it came as such a surprise, even to me, that when I saw this camo messenger bag, I actually liked it. I bought it, thinking I would make a knitting bag out of it, but I decided it was big enough to hold my wallet, checkbook, and a sock in progress.

Now, if you don't want to see the snake pictures, stop here.

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Ok, if you are still reading, I'm going to assume you have no fear of snakes. I was out walking Rylea this afternoon when we stumbled across this little beauty:

As my luck would have it, I didn't have my camera with me. Naturally, I did the only thing I could do in that situation. I tied Rylea to a tree and caught it.

I'm not sure what kind of snake it is. It looks like either a kingsnake or a sub-species of rat snake. I even went to the Mississippi State University snake identification site, but none of the snakes there quite matched this one. The solid grey head and relatively unmarked belly is what is throwing me as for identification.

I do know that it is nonvenomous. I am quite familiar with the venomous snakes native to this area, so I had no fear in catching it. Good thing, because it took a little nibble on my thumb. It didn't hurt, and barely drew blood, but gave me a nice little bite pattern.

As for my own snakes, it was feeding day for all but one of them. Everyone but Slider ate. I swear, I think that snake is trying to starve himself do death.

How does one make a smiley for pulling your hair out?

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