We share the native south Texas rangeland with a variety of wild animals, some of which, like the Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox), are venomous. Usually, these snakes avoid the horse paddocks and the barn, but with the current drought, they are looking for water. Rattlesnake prey items, such as mice and rats, are also looking for water. This leads to the clear and present danger of a rather large rattler in the barn, hiding (and so far inaccessible) under the hay pallets. Caveat equestrian.
Diamondback Rattlesnake and snakeskin. Caran D’Ache watercolor pencil and Prismacolor, respectively
At least this event gives me the opportunity to once again express my gratitude for the lovely gift of the Caran D’Ache watercolor pencils!
Close-up of rattler, which is to be avoided IRL
How dry is it? Well, the SA Fire Department was just here extinguishing a grass fire in the draw behind the neighborhood.
Neighborhood grass fire, today. Hot enough for ya?
Yeah, I’m really happy that fireworks are being sold just outside the city limits. Because no one would be stupid enough to set them off in town, right?
And then the snakes might be hiding in your house, thereafter, eh?
Would your riding boots be sufficient protection in the barn, and are rattlers a threat to horses?
Argh. I am quite happy that I only ran across one rattlesnake during my almost six years in Colorado. He was small, and very angry, and smack in the middle of the trail… (I turned around and walked back the way I had come – go ahead, call me a chicken).
@ Heather – Sometimes the rattlesnakes end up very close to the house. My friends have ~ 70 acres, to which they added a guesthouse, two barns, and a house for the ranch hands (I live in dull suburbia, as shown above, and pay to keep my horses on the ranch). They’ve found rattlesnakes in the yard around their house on occasion – usually their collie finds the snake, and holds it at bay until someone can catch it with the loop.
Riding boots are good protection in most cases, but I’ve had close encounters while reaching down to pick up something on the ground. Horses are usually pretty good at avoiding snakebite, but they, like dogs, are susceptible to the venom. All vets here carry rattlesnake anti-venin. Apparently llamas are the best anti-snake defense available, apart from the native roadrunners and caracaras.
@ Steffi – I don’t argue with snakes, feral hogs, or black bears in the middle of a hiking trail. There was an ancient donkey that roamed free at the equestrian facility where I used to keep my horses, and he was pretty scary too.
What is it with donkeys playing the part of the Ancient Mariner at equestrian facilities? His twin works at my daughter’s riding center.
I also wanted to say that I was very impressed with the shadowing on your rattler – it rises right off the page. Now I finally remember what altered books remind me of. Once we explored the attic of my husband’s ancestral home in a tiny village of the Pyrenees, and came across a stash of 19th century (mostly) books amidst the dust. One of the forebearers was a schoolteacher, and clearly recycled old books, sometimes rebinding the pages, for his students to practice writing orthogonally to the printed text. If I get very inspired someday, perhaps upon retirement, I’ll try to recover and scan the pages; it’s charming, and you find many of the family names of the village today.
One of the more delightful exceptions to the 19th century drek was a copybook made from part of a late 17th century edition of the Petit Albert (see #3).
The Ancient Mariner donkeys always have very long hooves, too, because even the toughest farriers are afraid to go near them. My horses, being Thoroughbreds, will spook at just about anything – gaited horses, roping dummies, llamas, cattle, plastic bags, jackrabbits, chalk lines, butterflies, deer, bobwhite quail – but a donkey will spook even the most bombproof old cowhorse. I found this out while exercising a miniature donkey by walking her around the livestock show fairgrounds.
One of the articles in the latest issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors (I know, I still cling to the quaint notion of print magazines) included the suggestion to alter travel guides or phrase books … I might try that on my next trip (whenever that may be).
terrified of snakes!!! The paintings are quite pretty though. :) I hope SA gets some moisture soon…
Woo – fabulous drawings (paintings? What’s the right term for something done in “watercolour pencil”?). Love the 3-D/transparent effect over the text. I’m thinking that many books would benefit from such “in-line” illustrations.
P.S. Is it possible to keep a tame Roadrunner or Caracara around? Just wondering.
@ Richard – Thanks! The rattlesnake was a drawing first, and a painting secondarily, after water was applied with a brush … if that’s any help. I have less and less respect for the text, as I proceed with the book-altering, but a friend suggested that I was in fact angling for someone to send me paper, in addition to the watercolor pencils. :-D
Roadrunners are curiously friendly and naturally tame, so much so that their nickname here is paisano. I can attest to that, as I’ve had roadrunners join me as I jogged, darting ahead and stopping to look back occasionally, as if to say “Hurry up, you lumbering slowpoke!” Our sister institution, UTSA, has the Roadrunner as its mascot, and their student newspaper is called The Paisano.
BTW, I have not forgotten that I still owe you an artwork prize for the bird quiz!
We still have not had rain here, it’s 101F today, and I’m beginning to understand why Native Americans shunned the area.
I’ve had roadrunners join me as I jogged, darting ahead and stopping to look back occasionally, as if to say “Hurry up, you lumbering slowpoke!”
Are you sure they’re not saying “shouldn’t you have fallen down a canyon or slammed into the side of a cliff on jet-powered rollerskates by now?”
Meep meep!
@Cath – I am (a) LOLing, and (b) disappointed I didn’t think of that first.
@Kristi – I would love to have tame Roadrunners zipping around here. The Chickadees are quite tame and very cute, but not nearly so exotic (to me, anyway – I guess it depends what you’re used to).