Snattlerakes ! (Updated for 2023)

21 May 2023 - We just saw our first rattlesnake of this new year! They're about three weeks late, but everything is late this year. It was a hard, wet winter and a very late spring. We were worried that the rattlesnakes might not have survived the winter.

Last year, after seventeen years, our dog Sirius finally couldn't go any longer. We waited almost a year while we mourned his passing and then got another dog from the local rescue organization. His name was Panda and we kept the name because it fits. He's one of these short-legged, little dogs that seem to have just too much energy. The rescue organization told us he was a "Tibetan Terrier". And he does exactly what he wants to do whenever he wants to do it.

Roxy was walking Panda around the house. Panda saw the snake and charged toward him with no hesitation. They have lots of poisonous snakes in Australia. Sirius was an Australian Cattle Dog and he left the rattlesnakes strictly alone. I guess they don't have rattlesnakes in the Himalaya Mountains.

Roxy was scared. The snake was scared. Only Panda failed to have enough sense to be scared. Fortunately, Roxy had decided from the beginning that Panda was never to be trusted and he is always on a short leash when we're outside.

Update -- 6 July 2023

We haven't seen a rattlesnake for almost two months. In previous years, we have usually seen at least one every day and sometimes as many as three at once. We were starting to get really worried that sometime had happened to them. The news has announced that the average global temperature had hit a peak higher than ever before in all of recorded history. The rabbits that used to come out every morning for breakfast have completely disappeared. The climate "canoe" is tipping over and nothing is the same anymore.

But we saw Mighty Bitey again today. He looks fine. It was good to see him again.

Note to anyone who might feel like sneaking up to my dad's rocks and taking a few. Rattlesnakes love to hide in rocks.

------ Previous Rattlesnakes-----------

Today is October 2, 2022. Usually, by this time, the rattlesnakes around our house have gone up the hill for the winter and we won’t see them again until around May of next year. But everything seems to be changing as the global warming climate change canoe tips over. Today, I saw one there by the path outside the house as I was feeding the birds, chipmunks, rabbits and squirrels.

Yes, I know that the fact that we feed all those little varmints is why there are a lot of rattlesnakes around the house. We don’t mind. We kinda like them. We’ve lived here for seventeen years. We leave them alone and they leave us alone. We get along with them just fine.

I identify with them. Rattlesnakes are slow, lazy, and thick-bodied. Just like me. They don’t move unless they absolutely have to. Just like me. When they do move, they don’t go very fast. Just like me.

And I have caught the rascals doing the horizontal mambo. … Twice! … Ummmm … I’ve never been caught. … that I know of … so I guess not everything is the same. There was no doubt whatsoever about what was going down. For one thing, I never saw a rattlesnake as active as that before.

So I have a lot of sympathy. We have things in common.

There are few things in the wild that are as defenseless as a rattlesnake. It’s not a match for anybody with a garden shovel. They’re not hard to see because they don’t hide much and they’re often right out in the open. I usually put the bird seed right on top of a big flat rock. I’ve often seen one right there in the middle of the same rock. They don’t even try to get away unless you get too close. A garter snake or a king snake are sleek and fast. They’re gone before you can look twice. But rattlesnakes take their time. They even tell you where they are. Or, at least they used to. Just in the time I have known them, I have noticed that they don’t do that as much now. Evolution in action.

Since they don’t move much, Roxy and I just take our time and check to make sure when we feed the birds and chipmunks in the morning. When we see one, we just go around it. Until the sun gets high, it will stay right there. Rattlesnakes don’t like direct sun and will find deep shade when the sun hits them. We have seldom been “surprised” by one. Roxy was refilling a bird water dish once and dumped the old water on one. He took exception to being treated that way and suggested that she not do it again.

We’ve learned how to watch the birds and chipmunks too. If there is one up under a bush, the birds will tell us right where it is. Sometimes, mainly out of curiosity, I’ll go up the hill and find him. He’s usually right there where the birds told me to look.

You might be asking yourself, “Why?” I’ve thought about that. The reason is actually not because I love rattlesnakes (or deer, or chipmunks, or any of the other wild things). I don’t actually do it for them. I do it for myself. Being filled with fear, hate, or anxiety does things to you. It changes you in ways that, I think, make you a much less happy person and actually harms your body. When I was a salary slave, I was paid to be the lightning rod for trouble. It was my job.

Today, I have the luxury of being able to live in peace and harmony with the other creatures around me and I just choose to do that.