When I worked outside the rest home full time , I remember the Monday morning stir of chatter through the office .
“ How was your weekend ? ”
“ What did you do ? ”
“ You wo n’t conceive who I view ! ”
Well , I no longer have an federal agency to report to on Monday mornings . alternatively I have a data processor on a tiny desk , crammed into the quoin of a hodge - podge room and next to a mountain of washables that never seems to get folded and in reality put away ! Where once was a tizzy of bustling speech sound telephone circuit and fax machine , my surroundings now consists of SpongeBob episodes and a wash political machine banging against the wall .
“ So , Kristy , ” you politely ask . “ How was your weekend ? Anything exciting happen ? ”
Why yes ! Yes it did !
Last week was a particularly in use week for me , and therefore the Leo the Lion ’s contribution of the animal caution fall on the kids . After only spending sporadic moments through the week with the crybaby , I went to check out on the gang Saturday nighttime as they were going to rest . I realized forthwith I was miss a lot of biddy ! Thinking they had decided to “ sit down ” in one of their unorthodox maculation again , I correspond where I could until darkness forced me inside .
Sunday morning , my husbandwoke betimes and set out calculate for the girls with no luck . After find out the tidings , I rushed out of the home snatch only a twosome of boots . Taking a dog with me , I began to take the air the way of life through the wooded areas of the property . It take close to 30 or 45 minutes to circulate around the densest part of the property . About 20 1000 from the tree line closest to the sign , I came across a with child pile of feathers rough 6 foot off the path and partially hidden by briars . Bending down , I realized the muckle was really the first of several heap .
Breaking off from the way , I pushed my mode through the briars and thick brush until I came to a modest clearing littered with feathers . Suddenly fearing for my own refuge , as well as an overwhelming urge to drop up , I called the dog and started tug my means back out . Getting tangled in a massive thorny vine , reality began setting in that I had just lost most of my tidy sum . It was in that second that Mother Nature determine to show her full force and potency . Crying , trammel in the brush a simple 20 yards from my front chiliad , I looked down to see a copperhead right away in front of me , and manifestly agitated at my thrashing around !
It is no closed book that I have a monolithic reverence of snakes . It is also no enigma that in my overactive imagination , all snakes are poisonous and are usually rattle snake . However , once I was able to locate the nous of this dead camouflage ophidian , his cerise tones glistened in the flyspeck rays of sunlight glance through the tree diagram canopy . And I began to shout out . And scream ! And yes , scream some more !
I screamed for what seemed like hours , though in world it was bare minutes . By the meter someone heard me inside the house , I was in a full fledge panic / hysterical / sob character of sidesplitter , which was agitating the snake that much more . ineffective to go rearward because of the briars and ineffective to go ahead because of the snakes unwillingness to back down long enough for me to choke , I was pose in my very own version of hell .
Once my husband arrived with his battery-acid mantle and scattergun , it still took several minutes before I was capable to get out of the damn woods . Because of my entanglement , he did not want to come from behind the snake and scare him towards me , and the briars on either side made a clear shot about impossible , at least when you have a hysterical married woman scream “ GET ME OUT OF HERE ! ” and crying uncontrollably . So , make a wide R-2 around , he was capable to get along up behind me , aid remove the bristled vine , and step between me and my 2 - foot aggressor .
Once all was said and done , I damp into a full nuclear meltdown , after which I spend the eternal sleep of the day going over the many errors I made along the way that placed me in that situation . While my mistake were legion , there are a few things I design to do well in the futurity .
1 . Maintain Consistency in Daily ChoresWhile summer brings longer days and time of day spent in the dirt weed and harvesting our beautiful gardens , it ’s also the perfect metre to become more relaxed in other areas of the homestead . In my subject , I failed to provide — and diligently maintain — adequate protection for my flock .
consistence is key in protection of the homestead . While we will still have loss , being consistent allows us to blob problem too soon and potentially derogate their core . Not only would I have probably noticed one or two missing hen , I would have also seen the modest chunk of miss feathers on the rooster ’s throat .
2 . Walk the Woods with a BuddyI go into woods alone , without assure anyone which direction I was channelize or take any form of communicating with me .
3 . Take Along ProtectionI bequeath the independent path on my , completely unarmed , to engage an nameless predator ; again , alone , and without inform anyone of my whereabouts or at minimum a way to call for aid if call for .
4 . Keep CalmFailed to keep a layer head , and therefore escalated the job . My thrashing and cry agitated the ophidian that , while still poisonous , is typically considered nonaggressive .
5 . get wind More About the Farm and Its InhabitantsI failed to develop myself and my family adequately about our milieu and its inhabitants . While I was pretty certain my hens were taken during daylight hours , I mistakenly believed fox only hunting at dark . And while 2 substructure does not seem large for a snake , I erroneously thought it was merely a juvenile person . ( Although that thought was not solace either ! ) I have since regain out through research copperhead that the type I run across this weekend only reaches 2 feet or so . I have also establish out they range drastically in coloring , where they typically occupy , what they wipe out and their demeanor . All of these thing I should have known already , at least in part .
I realize red is a realism we all face as homesteaders . Losing an animalis always intemperately , and lose your flock is the type of pain that reaches down into your psyche and twists your viscera . It makes you question your firmness to push forward ; to start over . Chickens were my “ win . ” They were my beginning down this homesteading path , and I arrogantly placed them in the “ success ” category as I agitate on to the next phase angle .
I am humble now and heartbroken , but tomorrow morning I will get up and start out over with my four remaining hens and the fuzzy chicks they protected , as well as one very jittery rooster ! I will still be frighten away stupid of snakes — all snakes!—but I will feel better educated about identification , behavior and treating bites . And I will never again make the mistake of traipsing through brush in search of chicken assassins unarmed , or at least without a electric cell phone to call someone armed !
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