Went for a hike.

[rebel]

Started at the garden and dug up some potatoes11988. Then went around the fence row where I found a mulberry tree (I think)11989. Then a grape vine11990. I found a patch of ripe blackberries. Sorry no picture. I had a few though and plan on getting more. Wondered down to the creek. Around the pond and watched four ducks take off. Then out to the swamp1199111992. Where I found a shed antler.

[rebel]

Antler.....11993

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Yep, it's a mulberry tree, a female mulberry tree. There are male and female mulberry trees. They make good pies, jelly, etc. but the birds crap all over the lower branches so get your berries early. My ex-next door neighbor had a huge tree, purple bird crap everywhere, and then came the flies. I'd spray and kill them by the millions to keep them from coming to my house. They didn't care.

We've got muscadines down here. They look different from those you posted. But, there's like 150 varieties of muscadines so could be. We try to gather enough to make jelly for the year. We haven't made it last a year yet...

We dug potatoes yesterday. Not near that many though. One of our little rows made about 50. We kept 25 and gave our sons the others. I had red potatoes and green beans with two pieces of fried chicken for supper. Blackberry cobbler and BB later.

Ducks on your pond is good luck. A sigh of serenity. (I just made that up)

A shed picked up with your hand out of you pasture means you won't pick it up with your tractor tire. I always think of all the things I could make from the sheds I pickup and then I never do. I like the sheds too much.

I grew up in South Louisiana. Swamps are my favorite place. I spent all my free time wading through hip boot deep water when I was a kid. Odd thing, cottonmouths don't raise my blood pressure at all but a rattlesnake puts me at condition red in a heartbeat.

Sounds like you had a great hike.

Alan

[rebel]

Yep, it's a mulberry tree, a female mulberry tree.

Alan

Thanks for the info

[WolfVanZandt]

The venoms are different. Mocassins have venoms that necrotize the tissue around the bite. Rattlers cause blood clotting so it more directly affects the heart.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Okay, I don't want to be bitten by either one. I guess being around them as a kid made the cottonmouths more familiar. I saw plenty of rattlesnakes in South Texas too but not as many as the CMs. A cottonmouth will hiss and throw his head back but given a chance will go on and leave. Rattlesnakes will leave too with sufficient warning (noise) but hunting is not a noisy activity, so walking right up on them is easy. We've found them all through the winter at one time or another. They stand their ground and shake that d@mn tail. I said it was odd the way I feel about them. I'll let the Cottonmouth go but the trigger is already pulled on a rattlesnake.

I've seen two snakebites (rattlesnakes). There is nothing about them I am interested in trying out.

Where we live now they say there are copperheads, I haven't found one yet, but not for lack of trying. I've been cleaning up brush piles and downed trees for the last 9 months.

Alan

[WolfVanZandt]

I saw two copperheads while living in the South. I've been right on top of every poisonous snake in the South and none have offered to bite me. Generally, biting something that isn't going to hurt it or be a meal is bad business for a snake do they tend to be reticent to bite.

I seem to notice that they get more aggressive the further south they are, but I may be misreading them.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I've never seen a cottonmouth bite, or a coral snake bite. I saw a copperhead bite. One of my students got bitten on the ankle. She missed a day of school but was back the next with no apparent problems. Perhaps it was a dry bite or copperheads just aren't that bad. Rattlesnakes are a different thing. A boy in town got a bite on the back of his calf. By the time it was over he'd lost the entire calf muscle. One of my teachers was cleaning his garage one day and was carrying a box out to the driveway. A rattlesnake came out of the box and hit him on the forearm. In 12 min he was at the ER. His arm swelled to the size of his thigh and it was had to tell if it was purple or black. They had to do those lateral cuts on three sides of his arm to keep the circulation going. He missed two months of school and it took him a year to get back to normal. I keep the venomous snake population thinned pretty good around the house and I'll stop and backup to kill a rattlesnake. The only other things I kill on sight are bugs in the garden and rodents. Everything else is on a live and let live basis.

Alan

[WolfVanZandt]

It's sorta too bad its so hard to entice king snakes to hang around. They eat other snakes.

I've only seen three snakes since I've been on Colorado. They were all garters. There are rattlers up on the mountains but I've never seen one. I usually smell a snake before I see it but Colorado and allergies... I don't know if I could smell one now or not.

My walking sticks usually double as a snaking pole. Carolina dogs like Vincent go after snakes so we're pretty vigilant in our yard.

[chiggersngrits]

Hey Wolf, I have a 4 year old Carolina Dog. She sweet as she can be but has a very strong prey instinct. And by sweet I mean hardheaded.

[WolfVanZandt]

Sounds about right. Vincent wants to oblige but once he gets focused on something, it's hard to pry him away.

[rebel]

We had some storms yesterday and last night. 3 1/2 inches of rain. I went out to the farm to check for damage and got the utv stuck. It almost sucked my boots off when I got out. I was able to get it out. I hadn’t done that in awhile. It was actually kind of fun.

[rebel]

Little olives are growing on my trees 11994