The two littles ones and I went for a walk with Mr. S. It is our weekly summer ritual to take to the trails behind his house, being lead by his faithful companion, a happy but aging beagle. The girls take turns holding her leash while Mr. S, and I pick sticks off the path with our walking sticks and chat.
Each walk I wonder what we are going to see. Once we found a deer antler; another time a turkey tail feather, and six snakes sunning themselves on rocks that cross the path. Yesterday we saw a deer bounding through the bush. It was the first deer we've seen and we've been walking these woods for two years now.
Down by the lily pad pond's edge the littlest one was doing the nervous dance and pointing at a snake. When I closed the twenty foot gap between us I couldn't tell if the Black Water Snake was alive or dead, so I gently touched its a spot on its over two feet of body. It turned looked at us and slithered into the water. Nice sighting. The next snake encounter didn't result in a dance but the little one's urge to follow it. Now she sees snakes where ever she is walking, and wants a snake for a pet.
As we rounded the last turn by the skating pond, three turkeys were moseying into the woods to our right. Again the little one was the first to see them, announcing there were ostriches up ahead. They were big, but not that big...
Back home, and after finding three ticks on our faithful guide we parted company with the promise to meet up again next week. The girls are all for it, for we walk the same paths week after week, and never see the same thing twice.
1 comment:
Snake make good pets, if you can find the right size food for them and keep them warm. Ask my son sometime about Dead Leaf the garter snake.
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