Well. It's been a while

Since the last post. Far too long as has been pointed out. I had no idea anyone read this.
Of course there have been more snake incidents during the spring and summer. New species have been discovered. One particularly aggressive snake I dispatched with my shovel. I usually don't kill snakes as they are beneficial. I've even moved rattlesnakes away from the house (ever try to balance a ticked off rattler on the end of a pruning saw? I thought not) to let them kill rats. Anyway I had been out looking around for a missing goesling. I finally found it dead in its wading pool. This is a small plastic kiddy wading pool that we got at walmart for $30.00. It is a big step up for the geese as what we had before was 1/3 of a plastic 50 gallon barrel. They really do love their pool. After removing the gosling I proceeded to clean out the pool. When I went to dump it over, coiled up underneath was a snake of a type I hadn't seen before. While some types of snakes I'll just grab and move away from the house or barn, new species get looked up first just in case. This one was aggressive. I was balancing the pool with two hands and trying to nudge the snake with my boot. It would strike at my shoe repeatedly. Then it flattened it's neck just the same way that a cobra does. Now I knew it wasn't a cobra, because I wasn't in India. I checked. But I didn't want to take any chances. Dead gosling plus snake striking boot equals dead snake. I took the carcass back to the house to try and find out what type it is. My snake books were of little help. Snakes can vary a lot in coloring and pattern even among the same species. For example corn snakes can be all kinds of colors from brown to bright yellow. Rat snakes that we have in abundance here vary in tones of brown and gray with bold or subtle patterns. Experts will count the scales under the chin or where ever to determine the exact type of snake. I wan't going to hold up a snake that was trying to bite me to count it's scales. Anyway I located an expert at snake ID's online and he got back to me right away and told me what I had was an Eastern Hog nosed snake. Beneficial alas. When cornered they will strike but otherwise they are harmless. Next time I'll know.

Aside from the hog nose snake and of course our common rat snakes there was one other new slitherer that made an appearance this summer. This one Kristi discovered in our little goldfish pond. After she calmed down following the initial discovery we captured it and looked it up. It's called a Blotched Water Snake. After capture and identification we turned it loose near the creek (which has been bone dry since 2007) Of course the snake made its way back to the pond and as far as we know it's still in there. We found a shed skin a few weeks ago. It makes cleaning out the pond filter more of an adventure than is used to be.

Goats are doing well. The usual cycle of worming them occasionally, feeding hay, listen to them yell for us to feed them continues on. Circumventing our elaborate fencing systems remains their favorite hobby. Earlier this week we had a fine time recalling the whole herd from our neighbor's field after they had found a weak spot in our flood damaged fence in the Dog-Leg. We lure them with a vigorously shaken bucket of grain. A bucket of grain, the goats love above all other foods besides our landscaping. This brought the adults running. The herd instinct (which is a great thing when we can make use of it) brought the kids running. A few of the little ones failed to follow the adults to the correct opening in the fence and went down the fence line on the wrong side of the fence. This meant that I got to go over the fence into the creek to try and herd them back. The woods along the creek are very thick, nearly impossible for 6'3 me to get through and it's exactly the type of terrain that goats are bred for. So who's going to win? Me because I am more stubborn. Kristi distracted the goats from the outside of the fence by touching the electric top wire and screaming. 4000 volts gets your attention. While she was settling down I grabbed one of the little ones and passed it over the top of the fence to her. I was laughing because as I was passing the kid over it was biting off leaves and chewing. You'd think it would have been a little stressed. Kristi managed to grab another one by the tail and pulled it out over the fence.

Raccoons are a fierce predator on the farm and we don't mess with them like trying to scare them away. A sure way of being rid of them it to shoot them. A couple of weeks ago I was awake at about 2am and I could hear the dog food bucket lid fall off. I knew Barbecue didn't do that kind of thing, being without opposable thumbs . I got a flashlight and went looking around. Sure enough there was a raccoon in the tree behind the house. All we need is for a raccoon to get into the chicken coop again! They killed over a dozen of our birds and our first peacock. I went to get my rifle and Kristi had awakened. I got her up to hold the flashlight for me. By the time we got back to the tree it was in I couldn't find it. Took about 15 minutes of searching but finally we could see its eyes shining in the flashlight beam. In my underwear ( didn't have time to go get dressed) I went out to where I could get a shot at it. I couldn't see it in the tree at all. Just it's eyes shining. I aimed in between and fired. It took a second and I thought I'd missed, but then it came crashing out of the tree and thudded on the ground. I'd hit it right through the forehead. The bullet had come out at the right ear, so it had been looking at Kristi's light when I got it. We put it in a bucket until the morning so the dog wouldn't get it.
A day goes by and we're working on the everlasting deck project in the afternoon. There are a lot of annoying flys buzzing around. Occasionally we can smell something foul. Then Kristi finds the bloated raccoon in the bucket. PHEW! Burial detail!! Can't believe I was that stupid to forget about it.

This summer has been the hottest on record. Over 100 days of 100 degrees or more. Hard to get a lot of outdoor work done. Yet Kristi managed to plant hundreds of tomato plants, pepper plants, herbs and all kinds of other things. She also watered them all almost every day in the hottest part of the day after work. It's too bad we don't have gold medals to give out. She also planted dozens of gourd vines. They are doing spectacularly well with many bushel gourds of almost 2 feet in diameter. They'll be ready for harvest right around the first frost.
Kristi is getting plants ready for the fall garden.

We've been eating more vegetables and fruit this year, less meat and little to no dairy. As a result Kristi has lost 32 lbs and I have lost 37. We both have a bit more to go.