Hello stompoutbermuda, This is really quite a coincidence as I rarely visit the landscaping forum, but just happened upon it a couple of days ago. From what I can see of the mountain range in your pics, and I could be wrong, but it appears as though we are practically neighbors. :-) If so, I live in the neighboring town maybe 7 or so miles east of your location. I agree with the poster who said you've got a 'diamond in the rough' there. I'm in my 50's and have lived in this area for nearly 40 years, and have seen many a beautiful desert oasis built in the area where it appears you are. :-) Not being a fan of snakes either, lol, I feel safe to say that in the many years I've spent in the high desert, and many hikes out in the desert, I have seen rattlesnakes as many times, or less, than I can count on one hand. They are shy creatures, not aggressive, and while dangerous, they are an important part of the desert community. We would be overrun with rodents otherwise. And I also agree with the poster who said king snakes, roadrunners and hawks are natural predators who help to keep the rattlers at bay. I'm afraid it's a waste of money, effort and time to try to create a snake proof fence. Your best bet is to accept that they are a part of the community - walk with loud but cautionary steps around hiding areas where they may be, and carry a long stick with you if you need to poke around in an area which may be a hiding place for them. If I may offer a few suggestions, for what they are worth...? :-) Line your fence line with oleanders and cypress. Both are drought and wind resistant, are green all year round, and the oleanders offer beautiful and colorful blooms this time of year. Yes, oleanders are poisonous, but one would have to actually consume many leaves, or breathe the fumes of burning plants to be in danger. Many, many homeowners in this area have oleanders on their fence line for a windbreak, and I have yet to hear of anyone becoming sick as a result of them. I've raised two children here in the high desert and now have several grandchildren enjoying the slow pace and beautiful sunsets over the Sierras. :-) As far as gardening, there is no reason why you can't realize your dream of having a productive garden. I say this as I just went outside and picked several ripe and juicy tomatoes from my plants. I visit gardenweb often and lurk, but I believe this is my first post as it pertains to something I actually know a little something about. LOL. Enjoy your new home, you really do have a diamond in the rough. It sounds like you have some great ideas to create your little oasis. Please pardon me if I have sounded presumptuous. Sincerely, satura

Snakes I can stand(as long as I don't tell my wife they are around!) Yellow jackets I HATE. Almost every year I find a nest in the ground and I usually find it the hard way. Neighbor sees me busy at some garden chore, then sees me go into some major body contortions with some acrobatics thrown in then add wildly flailing arms ending in a headlong flight across the yard with the arms still flailing about my head... Then he usually comes casually strolling over with a big grin on his face and asks "How's it goin?" I give them a little kerosene cocktail served at dusk which always gives me satisfaction in sweet vengence. Guns aren't much good against yellow jackets.(grin)

Muck Boots, I never thought I would like them. I received a pair of the shoe style for Christmas. Once I tried them I became a convert. I wear the every day when working outside. They are a little on the expensive side, but my feet are always comfortable and dry. I like that they are easy to slip on and off, yet they always stay in place when working.

coonx, You know, I saw a fresh skin on the ground last week, not in the same area where Casper saw the snake, but maybe 100' away. It spooked me a little, but we had days in December, January and in February that were in the 70s and 80s so I knew it was possible snakes were coming out looking for a meal on a warm winter day----I just didn't want to believe they actually were. I hope your skin was from your resident rat snake. In the past, the earliest I have encountered a snake outdoors was either on March 1st or 2nd, likely in 2007 or 2008, and it was a pygmy rattler about 2" from my hand. I instinctively did a backwards somersault to get away from it since I already was crouched down low to the ground. I'm glad there were no eyewitnesses to that event. Bon, That's one of those things I try not to think about too long and too hard. Because I have so much trouble with timber rattlers coming out of the adjacent woodland, I am very cautious when handling mulch and compost year-round, always wearing heavy leather work gloves and using a rake to move mulch and compost around before I put my hands near it. Sometimes I'll stir up a skink or a glass lizard (which looks very much like a snake) which will startle me, but I rarely find a snake in the mulch. They more often are slithering through a raised bed looking for a meal, often preferring the dense shade beneath potato plants once the plants are a foot or two tall. Some years I mostly have trouble with copperheads, and with an occasional diamondback rattler. The last two or three or maybe four years, the persistent problem has been with timber rattlers. I keep reading they are rare. Ha, they may be rare in some places, but I encounter them almost weekly and sometimes several days a week in summer. The place I most often encounter them is right at my garden gate. They come out of our neighbors' woodland to our south, slither across maybe 20 yards of pasture, slide under the barbed wire fence, cross our driveway and meet up with me at the gate. It happens over and over and over again to the point that I start dreading that walk to the garden gate as I'm likely to encounter a venomous snake there. And, it isn't the same snake over and over because we shoot every venomous snake that we see around our house. They can room our 10 or 11 acres of woodland all they want and we leave them alone, but when they come to the yard or garden, it is too risky to ignore them. I feel really bad for this soldier that lost his leg. I cannot even imagine what he must be going through, but he is lucky to be alive. And, of course, it wasn't just luck---his hiking companions acted quickly to give him the best chance to survive. There are times I've been so close to snakes, including timber rattlers, that I don't know why I haven't been bitten, but I'm grateful I've been so fortunate to avoid that fate. I want to remember what happened to this gentleman so that I am more careful than ever, particularly in the garden. We always joke that it is a jungle out there in summer (and it is) but I am aware that snakes can be hard to spot in a jungle of vegetation. We also talk about how odd it is that I always see the timber rattlers just outside the garden gate or trying to slither through the fence, but rarely actually see them inside the garden. (One did climb up into one of my Luna hardy hibiscus plants last spring just a few feet inside the garden gate.) Do I think that we see and shoot them all before they get into the garden. No, I do not. What I think is likely is just they are easier to spot in the gravel driveway but once they are in the garden, I just don't see them, which is scary in and of itself.