This is Foy Brown driving the tractor up and over the edge of the civilized part of our back yard yesterday. He told us he would be back this morning, and my husband said he would help him air up a low tire on the tractor before starting. He’s out there working in the hot as I type, trying to finish up our fire break today.
Up on top of a ridge line, we don’t have to worry about floods – flash or otherwise. We don’t have hurricanes here, or storm surges from the ocean. We do have to worry about lightning, tornadoes, high wind, and wild fires.
We do all we can to protect ourselves from lightning strikes. One year we lost our whole entertainment center plus a couple of appliances due to a lightning strike nearby. We’ve since built in some better protection.
Wild fires are the next most likely threat. About 7 years ago we hired a nice man to run his bulldozer over things to create a break. He died, and we hadn’t been able to find anyone who had equipment or interest in helping us redo the break until now.
Our view will be opened up, which is a truly enjoyable thing. The peace of mind that we’ve lowered our risks a bit in the event of a wild fire is beyond price. When Foy is finished, I’ll follow up his good efforts with the weed killer we got recently. It’s a concentrate, and we have a good 3 gallon sprayer to use. Foy did mention he saw a copperhead in the rocks – so I’ll be sure to wear boots and pay attention.
Amber has been upset that she lost her good, high grass for taking care of business; but with 8 acres, we think she can probably find several other good spots…
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Good to hear that you take so good care, Linda.
This sounds like a snake, as you describe it. Pls take more care 🙂
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We have seen one other copperhead snake on our property in the 30 years we’ve been here. If I see it again, I’ll try to get my husband to shoot it. Meanwhile, I’ll be very careful.
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Okay, just you take care. I do also think about your animals, if they get bites or worse, Linda.
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I hear you, Irene. Molly doesn’t usually go out that way. I’m keeping Amber on the leash. I’ll keep my eyes wide open when I’m using the weed killer. I don’t like to think of him out there, but even if we see him, he probably won’t stay there until my husband can get his gun… :0(
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How large is that kind of snake?
I ask because I think also at your cats.
Do you have stairs up to the house or direct access from outside?
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I don’t know, Irene. I’ve never actually seen one. We have stairs up to all access, except for the garage, where we have a cat/dog door.
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I was just curious Linda. Good with all your stairs. I do still remember the big snake, as I met, while walking with Odin.
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Do you know what kind of a snake it was, Irene? That’s scary.
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No, I don’t know, but when I told my boyfriend about it, he meant it could be a python.
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From what I’ve read, those are pretty slow. If you just sit there and let them wrap themselves around you, you’re in trouble. Otherwise, I don’t think they’re a problem.
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The one as I met, was more than fast to get away from us, which I found scaring. If it wished to attack, we would not have a chance to get away.
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Wow. I would have been scared, too. My husband keeps telling me that almost all snakes we see around here are ‘good’ snakes, but I really don’t want to see ANY of them.
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I do understand you Linda, but I prefer to see them, before they see me….
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I hear you, Irene.
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