Two related developments

Well there is little I can do still on the site until we get the backhoe out, though I was able to get in the hole, around some of the mud which has remained, and mark off the dimensions of the house proper so that we know where the excavation needs to be tweaked. Very little to tweak actually. I'd still like to be able to get rid of some ledge rock on the high side, but the time and thus money required is simply too much to bear. So I'll have to work around this obstacle. 

However I did broadcast annual rye on the slope so as to hopefully stop it from eroding over the winter, and the good news is that because of the unusually warm weather (somewhere Algore is dancing a jig..) it has come up and is growing wonderfully. 

I realize that this is not the most attractive shot, especially with the lovely downed tree so prominent, but that will be moved when I get to covering and backfilling around the U-house. still, this is the only time, I believe, that this area will ever resemble a lawn. I am fully intending to allow it to return to natural native plants (as opposed to those plastic native plants..(yeah I can laugh at myself) )  as well as to try to seed it with various wild edibles, such as passion flower which I will have to post on another time.. 

That same new visually attractive "lawn" is quite attractive of and to deer. These prints were taken from the future floor of my home where clearly I had a couple of four legged visitors coming in for a drink from the bit of water remaining. Perhaps also hiding from the local yahoos who like to get all liquored up and go shooting.. * 

* I am NOT anti-hunting at all jftr. I have been deer hunting myself, and at other times I have been a vegetarian also. I have shot rabbits, as well as varmints including armadillos. I take no special pleasure in killing, and do try to avoid it in most cases. I mention all of this only to make clear that my comments about the yahoos around here are specific to those yahoos and not a general comment upon hunting. I hope to keep encouraging deer to visit, as I would really like to be able to take one right near, perhaps on top of, the house so I would need only move it a very short distance.. :) I will be encouraging lots of wildlife for a variety of reasons. There is a bobcat which lives in the area I am building. If he/she is not frightened off, I will hopefully have him/her as a neighbor. Though locals shoot them just to kill them, or trap them for their hides, I cannot abide either as they seem to me to be fine independent animals in many ways living a life of which I am quite jealous on nearly a daily basis. There are also bear in this area, which I would not mind seeing, ... from a distance. I've no desire to hunt them, but do realize that my home may be quite attractive to them. 

Leave it to a philosopher to have an aside be as long as the post itself.. More to come later.. I cooked the mystery fruit and am working on various plans for human powered devices.. 

Adrenaline filled morning

I set out this morning to take care of Rancher Bob's cattle, feed the stock fish, then start in on trimming back trees from fence rows. Well I had gotten a fair amount done when I decided to head back to my place for gloves, a drink of water, and a few minutes rest. While there, I hear cries of "Get your gun! Snake!" from Rancher Bob's excitable wife.

I expected to find a curved branch, or maybe an oversized night crawler, but this time she wasn't just crying wolf! There as a 4 foot timber rattler, about two and a half inches in diameter sitting underneath some Crepe Myrtles curled up in almost the typical coil.

Now I really do not like killing anything, but some creatures in some places just have to go. This was one of those. With four dogs, and three humans who regularly walk around the yard there at Rancher Bob's, I just could not leave this venomous snake be.

I shot it several times, but never in the head, and this snake just keeps on moving, going from shrub to shrub, but never getting in the open where I can get a good shot at it. Rancher Bob's wife gets one of his handguns, and she proceeds to miss the snake by a mile from four feet away.. :) I reload, and shoot it again. Now it is really pissed. It finally moves into the yard proper, unfortunately right at me. I take a quick shot at it's open mouth, grazing its head before it lunges at me. It stops there in the yard, playing possum, so I grab a large rock to test its resolve as well as the law of gravity.. This rattler attacks the rock leaving venom trails across the face of the rock.

One more shot then it is clear from the shrubs enough to take the shovel to it. A couple of good whacks with the edge of the shovel, and the head is removed from the still writhing body.

This is one of those times where I wish I had a bit more knowledge of wild game, because this snake would have been good eating.. nice fat body.. maybe some rattlesnake cakes like those at Hudson's on the Bend in Austin... But I haven't had time to learn or previous experience at field dressing and preparing snake, so it is off to the national forest for the carcass, but not before I see how much abuse this snake took before giving up the ghost. I had hit it 5 times that I could see, though the snake never really slowed from the shots. I've got to respect the toughness of this particular predator..

So the deed is done, the snake disposed of, and slowly the adrenaline is working its way out of my system. The yard has once again been made safe for man, animal, and excitable wives...

Hopefully the rest of the day will be less eventful.