Hey, do you know which month dogs bark the very least? Why, February, of course… welcome to it!
Roads are not remarkably hazardous today, but there might be ice. Now, I had ice on the car this morning, and even had to scrape the windshield before take-off. However, roads didn’t seem terribly icy. There’s plenty of moisture on the roads from yesterday’s rain, and temps are in the freezing range, but just barely: I think that for the most part, ambient ground temps are preventing road ice. However… use caution nonetheless.
No fog, no wind, no rocks… lots of stars, and at least one moon were visible this morning.
Today is National Get Up Day, sponsored by Viagra. No, that’s not true. It’s a day in which one is supposed to be inspired by people who have recovered from falls, be they metaphorical, physical, financial, whatever. I think I need to pick myself up from the gutter, where many of my jokes wallow around.
It’s also National Serpent Day (unrelated to the above-mentioned day… dang it, I guess I still need work). Yep… we’re encouraged to celebrate snakes today.
Not everybody is a fan of the legless reptiles… however, I am personally very comfortable with the creatures, and have even had many as pets over the years. In fact, my own daughter has a pet snake right now, a little corn snake, which she got only days after birth (not her birth, the snake’s).
Some of my friends and loved ones think that my enjoyment of snakes isn’t normal… they think I suffer from reptile dysfunction. Dang it… still wallowing around in the lowest places here.
Oh, and I have a million stories about snakes. For example, recently the editor of this very site, Raymond Ray, invited me to a location he had discovered while camping with his family near Green Valley Lake. He had spotted a couple of rattlesnakes there, and he wanted to have a more thorough look around.
We found the location just off of a dirt road. And, the place did NOT disappoint. In moments, we spotted our first rattlesnake… then another, and another. Soon, we realized that in an area no larger than most living room floors, there were 40 or 50 snakes that we could see… there were probably significantly more hiding in holes, under rocks, or just camouflaged in the grass. It took great care to walk in that area… each step had to be carefully planned and executed. We spent a few minutes exploring, handled a couple of them, and released them.
Now, I don’t release every rattler I come across… ‘cause them’s good eatin’! My specialty is rattlesnake burgers: I like to chop the meat into raisin-sized pieces, then knead it into hamburger. This adds a unique texture and flavor to the burgers… and how cool is it to chow down on a rattlesnake burger?!?
Of course, the vast majority of snakes are not venomous… many are not even aggressive enough to bite at all. We’ve got plenty of native snakes in our area that can simply be picked up off of the ground, that will be perfectly happy to wrap around an arm or a neck to get warm, and never cause a fuss. I guess that not everybody is into that sort of thing, but, hey, the snakes often are!
Enjoy the weekend… see y’all on Monday!