off to the mountains.

today at the farmer's market, i came away with one small borage seedling, four small bee balm, one basil, one sweet olive tomato seedling (determinate), bacon for boy, summer sausage for boy, and eggs.

we picked up the book he ordered at new dominion (Poppy Z Brite's Liquor)... and decided it was too hot to work in the garden and came home. i called nannar. after we eat, we'll hop in the car and meet him at the Slacks overlook on the parkway. we're hiking the white rock gap falls hike.

YAY!

(no subject)

my neighbor may have lots of pretty ornamentals... she may have a lush carpet of grass, courtesy of the toxic chemicals of her lawn company... but my yard...

my yard is ALIVE. i have all sorts of creepy crawlies, some creepier than others. i have butterflies and birds,and spiders and worms and pillbugs and mantids and lots of other beneficials. i have real lady bugs. i have some grass, but more henbit, veronica, dandelions, violets of three shades, and tons more. sure, some of those are "weeds", but lawn grass is also an invasive non-native.

my yard requires no toxic chemicals. any fertilizer i use is made from compost or kelp. yes, i needed to buy some amendments (organic ones) because the soil was depleted, but my plants won't require anything additional, the way someone else's lush chem-lawn will. my yard will be green and red and orange and white all summer long. it's brimming with life. it won't stain anyone's shoes or make little kids sick or make me suffer from pesticide exposure. it will provide vegetables, fruit, and food for animals. it's so much easier to take care of in the long run.

i like it that way.

blue ridge parkway, 17 iv 04

Today's wild adventures involved an encounter with a rattlesnake. Yes, a timber rattler.

I'm fairly sure it was *not* in the path when I walked across it, but it was certainly in the path when I heard that distinctive rattle and thought, "huh, it's way too early for cicadas... and that's a really shrill and indistinct song."

and then i heard nannar call out and saw him running back as I turned around. And I saw a pretty and thick timber rattler looking back and forth at us as it shook its tail. It moved on off the path and calmed down. Eventually, Brian came on past it (while I didn't get too close, but hauled out the camera anyway).

picture one... see the curved stick looking thing? that's the back third to half of the snake. I could be mistaken, but I think it was fairly mature. It was a bit under three feet, judging by what I can remember and adjusting down for fear. I was surprised by how thick it was.

higher quality pic, no zoom... the snake is just below center.

Kinda freaky. They are, after all, poisonous. I was wearing 20i boots, which come up to just below my knees. boy was wearing combat boots, which are at least 8" above the ankle. brian wasn't wearing high boots, though. this kind of makes me rethink my hiking footwear. i was going to buy trail shoes, since they'd be far better than my doc martens, but now i'm not so sure. maybe i need to find some combat boots in my size. they're not so good for my feet, but a snake bite wouldn't be so good for my health.

i've known that timber rattlers are common in this region of the blue ridge, but actually being a few steps from one has made me rethink things. and i feel really stupid for NOT having a snakebite kit on me. we didn't even have a belt between the two of us--i didn't look closely at what brian was wearing. i think a snakebite kit will go into my backpack before the next hike. i know better than this. it was a *hot* day for spring and there's no leafing out yet, so the ground is nice and warm. critters are out and critters are both predator and prey.

I'm also disturbed that I didn't see it. I know they blend in with their surroundings, but I was looking at the sides of the trail just ahead of me, scanning... I was looking for early wildflowers, wintergreen, and baby snakes, to tell the truth. For a *mature* rattler to appear out of nowhere on the trail a few steps behind me? Really freaky.