Monday, April 25, 2011

Our Pets

Yes, it's a squirrel!
We like the kind of pets that take care of themselves.
And this little fellow does a good job of that.

We have gourds and houses for our Purple Martins.We look forward to them coming back every year.  They eat only flying insects, which they catch in flight. Most people think that they eat mosquitoes but they don't. Purple Martins and freshwater mosquitoes rarely ever cross paths. Martins are daytime feeders, and feed high in the sky; mosquitoes, on the other hand, stay low in damp places during daylight hours, or only come out at night. Since Purple Martins feed only on flying insects, they are extremely vulnerable to starvation during extended periods of cool and/or rainy weather.
Isn't that interesting?

The ducks on the side of the pond only come around when it rains a lot.
They are so pretty. They are black and white.
The geese that are out in the water live here year round.
They always raise their young around our pond.
Then when they are older they head off to the big lake below our property.
I actually don't like a lot of geese around because they are messy but I can handle this pair
that lives here. Did you know that geese mate for life?
They will find a new mate if their mate dies.
They weigh about 20-25 lbs. and can live 20 years!
Isn't that interesting?

And of course I LOVE my birds!

We actually don't feed our birds in the spring and summer
so this is actually winter pics. 

This is our dog!
Well, it really is our neighbors dog!
We live in the country so we don't know which neighbor he belongs to
But I love this little dog!
He knows when I cook.
It is amazing. Everytime I cook I look out and he is on my deck
waiting for the scraps.  After he eats he usually leaves with
something in his mouth and heads down the road.
That is our kind of dog!
We named him "LUCKY"!
Do you see why?

This is for sure not my favorite pet.
I walked out on the sidewalk the other day and there he was!
I jumped up on the picnic table and tried to get
"Sweet Hunter's" attention.
He was out mowing. So here I am waving my arms and yelling!
He never saw me.  So I got down, run in the house to grab my camera!
I came back and he was gone.  I looked around and found him.
I went to the garage and looked for a hoe. 
I was determined that he was dead!
Then...."Sweet Hunter" see's me!
He says, "what are you doing"?
Out of breath and very hyper, I said, "come here....hurry!"
"Kill it, Kill it"!
"Sweet Hunter" says, "NO WAY!"
I said, "Please, kill it!"
Then he gently poked around it and got it to head to the woods.
I thought to myself, "Has Sweet hunter lost it?"
"Is he crazy?"
Then he informed me that it was a chicken snake.
I told him that I didn't care what kind it was.
But he told me that it kills rats.
He said it is a good snake.
He said it was "our" friend.
It may be "Sweet Hunter's" friend, but not mine.
So I went and googled it.
He is right except for one thing.
While their bite is not poisonous in most cases, it is usually extremely painful!
WHAT???
I WILL kill this snake!!!!
*******************************
Today I am thankful for..........my hoe!!!

16 comments:

Michelle said...

I'm with you! Any snake near me needs to be dead!

Maria said...

I'm with you Val. The only good snake is a DEAD snake.

phyllis said...

I'm with you - I keep my hoe handy at all times.

shannon said...

aww- leave the poor snake alone!

hubby's right. a rat snake is a good neighbor to have around. it'll eat all the rodent and be gone before you know it.

we had one for a couple months last summer. i saw his shed skin hanging in the tree :)

as far as biting you- a snake's last resort is biting. just leave him be...poor snake- a bad reputation he doesn't deserve.

caknitter said...

lol I would have done the same thing if I came across that snake.

Alice Grace said...

I like Lucky! and the snake? Will not be lucky when you get hold of him!
The ducks are so sweet.

Granny said...

I love all the pets except the snake. To me, the only good snake is a dead snake. lol

Lucky is so cute. Looks like he knows where to find good food.

Darla said...

You are more than welcome to all of the tree rats here! I am trying soooo hard to leave, what 'they' call good snakes alone. It is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life, lol.

Susannah said...

A snake? Lord, have mercy...I hate those things!! Better dead than alive!

Libby said...

The worse thing about this beautiful weather..SNAKES! UGH! They scare me to death and I dont even care if the are harmless or not!!!
btw..I LOVE your new pics of your kids and grandkids! Such a beautiful family! and I still think "Big Sis" should be on tv! She is beautiful!

Scrappy quilter said...

I don't mind snakes...hubby does. I didn't know that about Purple Martins and mosquitoes. Everyone here thinks they eat them by the barrelful. Quite interesting. Enjoyed seeing your pets. Hugs

Needled Mom said...

I love almost all reptiles - all except snakes. Good luck with it. Good thing it doesn't come around when it smells your cooking.

Patty said...

Now Val, all creatures big and small leave him be I'm sure he won't bite you or anyone else.

webbsway said...

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Soooo Funny! I'm sorry, I can't get my breath for laughing -and- the reason I am laughing is because I had some snake adventures too! LOL

One time It was when I was walking down the hall and out of the corner of my eye - I saw something black that did not belong in the picture. Yep - Monster snake and he was heading toward the bathroom and he looked like one of those cartoon snakes -just bobbing merrily along checking out the place! Talk about heart attack in my own house!

But I got lucky and when he entered the bathroom I slammed the door behind him and he reared up and was beating on the back of the door wanting out. DH killed that one .

Then two weeks later as I was walking into the bedroom my eyes strayed to an aquarium in the corner and something much smaller black caught my eye-IN MY BEDROOM. I knew if he got down I would never find him in all my "stuff". So, I kept my eye on him and hollered for my youngest son to go bet me a bucket! I could hear him fussing as he went out the door - Bucket- where am I going to find a bucket! But he did - a nice 5 gallon bucket. We sat it in the floor and I grabbed the wire top on the aquarium and gently slid him off and into the bucket. LOL

It did not take long for him to realize that he had been transferred so he would raise himself up toward the top of the bucket and I would give it a little , "shake, shake, shake! That worked good and I got him outdoors and carried him way out in the field before I set him free.

THEN! I was out in the yard -puttering around and all of a sudden I heard a soft thud! I had a "pet squirrel" -like you have and I totally adored her . I would feed her corn and she even raised her babies there in the tree that I walked by every day. It was a big ole walnut tree.

This thud turned out to be MY PET SQUIRREL . This dog gone snake had somehow climbed this monster tree and grabbed her and stuck him fangs into her middle and down they both came! The only good part was that she was dead before she hit the ground! I was SSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOO mad at that snake for killing my beloved little squirrel ( you know you just cannot go out and buy a new squirrel to replace the one you just lost!)

I screeched and squalled and DH came with the gun and murdered that hateful critter. I was soooo mad at him I wanted to bring him back to life - just to kill him again- you know- like shoot him and then run over him with the car and then tye him to the back of the bumper and drive down the road dragginghim - just a few things that came to mind. Good think we (including critters) can only die once or he would have been in big trouble.

I still miss my dear little squirrel-she was a rare treasure.

And last , but not least was when we had a nest of baby blackbirds ( I really do love all the animals - just not that particular murderer) :)I had been watching them grow and get loud and noisy. I had just come out the door when I heard the babies screaming and I rounded the corner of the house and way up at the top of the V - this dog gone snake had made his way up there -AND- he had ONE baby in his mouth and he had the other baby -in his coiled up tail! Yea- I went off again and was looking for something long enough to reach up there . DH had noticed the excitement and he found a long thin pipe and he whopped that dumb snake making it lose its grip and come tumbling down with both babies. I think it knew DH would murder it so somehow it slithered away while I ran to the babies - But- both of them were dead. I was so mad -all the hard work those little parents had put into almost getting their babies raised and it was gone in a minute.

So - see - I really do have some experience - to enjoy your "visitor" with you! LOL :)

Diann said...

Wonderful photos!

Carole Burant said...

Snakes don't bother me...unless they cross paths with me! LOL Ugh, between snakes and spiders I don't know which one I'm more terrified of!! We have a lot of nature's pets as well and like you, I so enjoy watching the birds. The feeders in our backyard are always busy all year long:-) That pooch is so precious and yes, I can see why he's named Lucky. He seems to have really adapted to only having 3 legs:) xoxo