Mortal Coils, et al

This week has been a turmoil. I've had a sister get incredibly sick with pneumonia. She has been in the hospital since the first of June. This is the second time this year she has come close to dying and she is only 50. So my thoughts have been quite somber this week. However, keeping my sister's "weenee" dog has given me a new character for my children's book.

This week, the snakes are coming out. They love to sun in the road and so you guessed it, I've seen many snakes as roadkill. I was going about 45 miles per hour down the road and stretched across the road was a long rat snake like the long dribbles of black tar that fill the cracks in the road. I could not stop so I straddled the snake. I drove back and there it was just agitated as heck but coiled up.

I came back by with the intent of taking a stick and chasing it off the road. But it was so dang agitated, I decided to drive around and say a little prayer for it. I learned that from my sister in the hospital. She hit a deer with her car. The sheriff deputy got a chuckle that she prayed for it. The deer got up and ran off. When I came back by that afternoon, there was no trace of the snake. So prayer obviously works for snakes too.

I saw a huge rattlesnake leaving my driveway to some tall grass which gave me pause. I did not walk my dogs down there until the next day. This time of year, snakes are just passing through, just busy eating, romancing, sunning on rocks and pavements. The next day I saw a king snake which was good news. They eat rattlers. I'm sure he would prefer some of the mice and rabbits but it was a good thought.

I have been mowing that area. I only mow small sections. Because of the way I have my property fenced, many mama deer place their babies to stay in that area. If the fawn stays still, my dogs never know it's there. One time I was walking down a logging trail with my dogs and one of my cats was strolling with us. The cat was getting very leary about something in the woods. The dogs were busy grinning and scuffling. I turned my motley crew around and went home. Dogs are just not as smart as cats.

Some of my pack on our big walk. 

Snakes are supposed to be harbingers of "big changes" in your life. I'm not too superstitious in that I live in the country and this is the time of year snakes are active. Our snakes do not hibernate. They brumate which means they stay in their burrows when the weather is too cold but can come out on a warm day in January. It's unlikely but they can.

One of my favorite creatures is a "snake doctor" which is better known as a dragonfly.

So what are your feelings about superstitions? or what is your favorite animal? or did you know cats were smarter than dogs? The last quote is even true in the comic strips just to give a little research for the doubtful.