Oh my goodness, what WONDERFUL photos everyone! mikeyannie - That face, THAT FACE! It looks like it is smirking at you! MARCIA-I didn't know you lived in Estero!!! I lived there for 14 years-where and when? Your flying snake story reminds so much of when Dennis first came to live with me in Estero (Fountain Lakes). We were in a 2 bedroom condo apartment. I had a hose run across the front sidewalk just outside the door soaking a small apt. size bed. Dennis (WHO HATES SNAKES) can take on lions, tigers and bears AND snipers without a twitch, but he hates snakes. Well, Den stepped out front to start the grill in stocking feet and thought he was stepping on the hose. This HUGE racer used to sun itself on our front sidewalk in the evening. You guessed it-he didn't step on the hose. Dennis leapt in one direction and me, sitting on the patio literally saw the snake FLY through the air in the other direction. I don't know who was more startled. I just sipped my wine, giggled, and asked when the steaks would be done! I had my own racer surprise the other day, too. I do not mind snakes at all. They fascinate me, except when at bedtime Tootie is mewing about the red ring neck baby black snake that got in under the patio door and she has cornered just to show me. Anyway, the other day I went to turn on the soaker hose. We have a split valve at the hose bib and a black dual hose that can control the front or back raised beds soaking. As I turned on the water with one hand I reached for the black hose to be sure I was getting the front bed. Only thing is, the hose started wraping around my arm and I had ahold of a nice size racer. He looked at me kinda like mikeyannie's snake as if to say, hey lady, you expect me to water all that???

My wildlife visitors are either too far away or too quick on the wing for photos, so you'll have to use imagination instead:). Along the back of the yard stand several black cherry trees, whose fruit has been ripening in stages all month. The primary consumers are robins, with an occasional cardinal or oriole dropping by. I allowed the self-sown catnip along the vegetable garden paths to grow this year, as well as some alongside the deck, and observe the seed stalks being visited by groups of goldfinches. Suddenly I realize why the single plant from 20 years ago is now all over our acre! Red bee balm is planted in a whiskey barrel by the deck and is patronized by the hummingbirds every year. The other day, as I sat under a shade canopy on the deck, a female hummer zipped into view, pausing at a day lily blossom, then flew in between the deck posts and hovered about three feet away from me for 5-6 seconds, before flying off. I was wearing a muumuu made from very vividly colored floral fabric--including life size red hibiscus blossoms--so I surmise she was taking a closer look before deciding they weren't the real thing! The same day, I saw a pair of song sparrows apparently courting--lots of flying around after one another, culminating in some activity partly concealed by maple leaves--"what IS that male doing, just sitting there and--oops!" as the female suddenly flew out from behind the leaves and the male took off after her again. You can draw your own conclusions, LOL. And last but not least, robins nested in the white ash tree by my study window for the second year in a row. That particular tree grows clusters of witches' brooms along its branches, which seem ideal for concealing a nest. The day before the eggs hatched, the male aggressively drove off a squirrel which was thinking about climbing the trunk--after a couple of dive-bombing runs, he thought better of it...

Jo, any time you catch and release a critter, you can pretty well plan on it coming back. It's fine to be a humanitarian about it, just as long as you know that's what they're going to do. I think that some of them can beat you back to the property, and dumping them where they'll be a problem for someone else is not a very good plan either. I hate to have to shoot things, but there are times when it's really the only thing to do. Dawn, I know what you mean abut every day being an adventure. When I went out to check the tomatoes earlier, I found a small turtle that was feasting on a small fruit I had tossed aside. Not a terrapin. An actual turtle. I just left him alone. One of the more exciting things that happened is that I have a big bank of windows in front of my computer and around to the side, so I get a really good view of most of the pasture. One day during the heavy snow, in the middle of the afternoon, I saw something swoop down and grab a small prey and then fly up to the top of one of the sheds. I figured it was a hawk. Naturally, I got out the big binocs, because I wanted a closer look. Imagine my amazement when he turned his head and looked at me and I realized it was not a hawk at all. It was a huge owl, out hunting in mid-day! As far as those black snakes, we tried the artificial eggs, and I tried jamming the holes full of bird netting, and we shot a bunch of them. I was horrified to learn that they can kill a full-grown hen. My neighbor who raises chickens as a business is the one who told me what the problem was, after I had him come and look at a dead bird. What seemed to finally cut the population way down was when I put out that Snake Stopper powder. I've only done it once, and probably need to renew it pretty soon, but we haven't found a snake in the chickenhouse since then. Not that they can't come in and steal eggs and leave again. I just haven't seen any of them this summer. I scattered the powder when I figured snake season was about to begin, as soon as it really warmed up, and it seems to be working.. Pat

Ah yes...Lined Snake heaven and full of all sorts of other surprises. That is one of my favorite herping places, but its so close to a metro area and I see so much evidence of irresponsible herping (i,e-not putting rocks back properly) there, that I am glad you haven't disclosed the specific location publically.