Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Gardening Wednesday

Moe:  I don't go out to the garden, I watch from a comfortable spot.

I figure that is the safest thing, except for some advice like 'grow more catnip for us, please'.


Mindy:  I often  look out at our garden, but not today.  

I am catching up on some rest.  It is early in the gardening season, I am waiting for the hummingbirds to arrive for the season.  Mombean says 'any day now', she put out their feeder today.


Mike:  I am keeping a general eye on things.   It is hard to keep track of mombean, because she has been going in and out to the garden so much today.


I believe I am exhausted, watching the comings and goings!


Cookie:  I am the one that loves the garden the most.  I sometimes get to go outside into it in search of my favorite blades of fresh grass.
Today, while mom was fixing up one of the gardening beds, she saw this creature.

WARNING: Stop reading now if you are the 'ewwww' type and don't like things that are long, skinny and move fast.

Are you still reading?

OK, here it is:

Yes, it is a snake.  Specifically a Garter Snake.  Apparently it is called 'garter' because it's pattern resembles the same pattern that used to be found on men's sock garters.  We're much too young to remember that tradition!   Mombean saw it while she was working on one of the garden beds.  In our part of the world this is the most common snake and is not very large - less than three feet.  It is completely harmless - unless you are a bug, slug or some other small creature like that.

Mombean says that this one was an unusually brave snake.  This is because even though she is a giant compared in size to it, the snake tried to scare her off by its hissing.   She says it doesn't actually make a sound, but opened it's mouth to make itself look bigger.   She tried to get a photo of this.

She wan't fast enough and this was the best she could do.  At lease she tried!  She hopes the creature will help control the critters that like to eat our plants - you know, the valuable ones like our catnip.

What kinds of gardening adventures do you have?  

13 comments:

Mariodacat said...

YIKES - we don't do snakes at this house. M just left the room running like the thing was going to jump right out of the puter and eat her up. he he

Gemini and Ichiro said...

Well it's raining so I have not been out in my "garden" yet...

Fuzzy Tales said...

We've only had one snake in our enclosed garden, an Eastern Milksnake a couple of summers ago. It was quite "interesting," the mom hussling us all inside and then trying to corner the snake and get it out of the garden and to safety. She didn't know what kind it was, if it was someone's escaped (and dangerous) "pet," and it was only after the fact (she did take pics) that she researched and found out what kind of snake it was.

She's not afraid of snakes, but really would prefer them not to come in to our garden. LOL. Too hard to get them out!

Sparkle said...

My human used to keep garter snakes as pets. She thinks they are awesome critters.

ANGEL ABBYGRACE said...

Mom has had encounters with several snakes and a few of them were very very B-A-D snakes. In our area the most poisonous snake is a water moccasin, they fear nothing. In fact they will stalk a person. We've had 3 of those and we are glad to say that they are no longer on this earth. Mom was alone one night when a pygmy rattler was in the house...she was our superhero and killed it. The only friendly snakes are black garden snakes and we haven't seen too many of those lately.
purrs
>^,,^<
♥Abby♥Boo♥Ping♥Jinx♥Grace♥

The Island Cats said...

Wow! That snake is cool!

The Devil Dog said...

I think if mom ever saw a snake you would hear her scream.

Roxy

Ps it's too cold yet to plant the green beans, peas and broccoli, but mom says soon.

Angel Prancer Pie said...

Were pretty sure our Mommy's screams would haf deaded it or at least made it deaf! She is of the opinion of it made it into our yard, it needs to die. (harsh, we know) We live in an area of lots of snakes, many of which are poisonous.

Mickey's Musings said...

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! That is so cool!!!! We are asking Mom to find one for us!! She said she has not seen any around here, and if she did,they stay outdoors! Darn!!
We like that guy's hissy face ;) heeheehee
Purrs Tillie and Georgia,
Tiger,Treasure and JJ

Ellen Whyte said...

We like your snake! We have cobras, and lizards of all types, and some bats and lots of birds. We try to catch them but then there's a lot of fuss made so it's not really worth it. Especially the cobras!

Poppy Q said...

Ohhh we do not have any snakes in New Zealand, and we would be very scared if we saw one. We do have mices that live in our garden, and I like to chase them. I have a cat door, so I can come and go as I please in and out of the garden.

Have a lovely weekend.

Julie and Poppy Q
xxx

Fr. Tom Fish said...

Whew! Guys, I don't think we can top that adventure! it gave us the willies, especially since the snake didn't run off like good snakes are supposed to do. :)

We like to watch gardening activity from the window, too. Fortunately, we don't have to take part in order to reap the rewards, hehehe!!!

Hugs,
Mom Julie, the furry herd and special angels xx

Katie Isabella said...

He looks like he's SMILING!!!