Farm Fresh Blog

In Search Of . . .

     I knew it was coming. I knew it the moment I saw his eyes light up. Other Half sat across the table and listened to another agent describe the gi-normous rattlesnake he'd seen in a federal preserve as he flew over it in a helicopter. I saw that gleam and I knew. I knew that sometime in the near future we would find ourselves in that preserve. 

     Flash forward to Sunday morning.  We had plenty of chores we could have been doing, but after a hard week of work that actually earns a paycheck, we were ready for a break. I suggested going to the Sporting Goods store for some new running shoes.  (That's normally as far down the Getting Healthy path I tend to travel.) Other Half suggested that we take the Border collies (Thing 1 & Thing 2) out in the jeep. He and the dogs could wait outside while I bought shoes. Sounded good. Like tripping over a barbed wire fence, I fell right into it.

     "Ok!  Let's take the Border collies out in the jeep!"

     But once we got rolling, the plan changed. In his defense, I changed it first.  While slow-rolling down the road, I changed the game plan because  I really loathe the idea of going into the city on my day off.

     "Hey, instead of going into the city, let's just drive around out here for a while," I said.

     Oh that sounded good to him! (I bet it did.)

     As soon as he suggested heading to the preserve, I remembered the gi-normous rattlesnake. He didn't even mention the snake. Okie Dokie, Smokie. The Border Collies were NOT getting out of the jeep. I was NOT getting out of the jeep either.  But that lasted until I saw the wildflowers.

     I had to get out and photograph this.

This made me get back in the jeep.

We saw lots of alligators . . . lots and lots and lots of alligators.  (The Border Collies were NOT getting out of the jeep!)

Cowdog had a blast.  He loves riding in the jeep. 

Because he is a Border Collie, he has to have a least one bizarre quirky behavior.  Cowdog snaps at passing cars as he goes down the road. Lily finds this habit most annoying. So while he bounced and snapped his way down the highway, Lily glared at him, angry that she was strapped into the back seat with an idiot.

After a while she just gave up and went to sleep. 

Despite lots of looking, we never saw a gi-normous rattlesnake.  Trust me, I did LOTS and LOTS of looking for snakes. Finding snakes was VERY important to me! I think Other Half was a little disappointed that he didn't find a giant rattlesnake. I was okay with it though.

And that's why I didn't get field fencing put up in the big pasture this weekend!