Spending our Gift All in One Place. 6-4-2017

I woke up feeling pretty crappy on Sunday. Was it the jaunt through icy cold water the day before? The 4+ hours of driving? Just getting old? At any rate, I wasn't feeling great and since the weather was supposed to suck it hard, I didn't mind hanging around in bed all day. Except the sun came out. And Andrea said some fresh air might do me some good. So we took advantage of the gift of decent weather and went on a quick walk through a fairly local spot... the one that was bulldozed last year.

It had clouded over before we got there but it was still pleasant and warmish. The fresh air was indeed doing me some good. Our hopes were set on seeing some determined turtles nesting. A sandy spot that is horrifyingly used as a bike track is a good spot to find unsuspecting nesters. It's also a good spot for American Toads. These two were living on the edge... under bike ramps.



We got to the bulldozed part and reminisced about Racers. This spot is still recovering and is still filled with mulch. No turtles were nesting yet nor have any Racers, Ringnecks or DeKay's been encountered since the razing. I was up a small hill when I heard Andrea say "There's a Milk right in front of me."

Three feet of well-camouflaged snake. It didn't move so we were able to get some good photos of it.



When it decided that we'd had enough pictures, it simply crawled on...

A perfect Milk and we didn't sully the moment by handling it. I did get a tick for laying down in front of it but that's fair. Seeing a flawless Milk on this devastated land does a lot to renew my hope for this spot.

We carried on for a while, going into the woods to look at a couple of other potential nesting spots but saw no Chelonian action. On the way back, I slopped across some flooded walkway boards and evidently scared up a feisty DeKay's Snake. Just take a look at his scar...

Last year, something gouged this little guy, took off all of his scales and probably nearly killed him. But here he is, feisty and ready to take you on.

Next time you start bitchin' about this and that, remember this 6" snake... he's tougher and cooler than you.

OK, I don't know why I just got so abusive but he really is one badass snake.

Not a bad day despite my being under the weather. The weather I was under turned out to be pretty nice and we saw some inspiring animals. On a day we weren't supposed to be able to get out. Win win win.