Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Alpine Trip / Snake ID?

Made a trip to Alpine yesterday to take care of some business and pickup some supplies. Hopefully the supplies will last me until next month! Ever notice how some supplies just seem to vanish in a hurry though? Like cookies, candy and beef sticks (Intended for Romain noodle lunches) and so on. ;)
On the return trip there were a lot of Monarch butterflies flying along and down the highway and they weren't always easy to dodge. The one in the picture above is one that I didn't manage to dodge. It fell off the grill after I pulled up in the driveway.

It seemed strange to make that trip alone since I haven't done that in ages, but it sure meant making a lot less stops. I didn't even eat lunch at the Chinese restaurant there (which had turned in to sort of a ritual) Instead I just had brunch at McDonald's. I also didn't visit the resale store this time. Guess I'll start putting out the word that I'll be making monthly trips to Alpine in case some of the people around here want to ride share and maybe split gas cost.

Got another 1/10th inch of rain last night over a period of time and with interment showers. I'd left the driver's side window in the jeep, but fortunately the rain was blowing from the north west so missed getting the seat wet.
Took the above two photos early this morning before sunrise because of the fog down in the valley.

 Can anyone ID this snake. My neighbor was out digging a hole for a post and he said this snake came out of a hole next to where he was digging. He said it arched up sort of like a cobra does and started coming toward him so he killed it with his shovel. I don't have a clue what it is and he doesn't either. Maybe a Rat Snake?

25 comments:

  1. Appears to be a harmless 'three piece' snake.
    Heh heh sometimes I just kill myself.

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  2. OF, I guess it would be harmless in three pieces. ;) I didn't figure it was venomous not having rattlers, but if any snake were to come at me rather than away from me they will be history to.

    Rubye Jack, Ill tell him the next time he comes by.

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  3. Looks like a post hole snake to me...

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  4. TnT, who would have ever thunk? I bet that's what it is. ;)

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  5. yes, that may be the very dangerous and ferocious checkered garter… being halloween is on the way, it may have been impersonating or insnakerating a cobra…

    http://www.austinreptileservice.net/image/checkeredgarter2.jpg

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  6. He certainly killed it, didn't he - didn't he realize that two halves was enough LOL

    Love the misty view. don't you find your spirits are uplifted in the cooler / misty weather?

    And as for Macdonalds - what are you doing to yourself? LOL Surely, in town, you can get a healthy (ier) meal? ;)

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  7. Seems the monarchs decided to stay in South Brewster county this year, I have seen tops 5 in Del Rio when we used to get so many.

    That is a "dead snake" in my book the best kind there is :D

    Now David why would you choose to eat at McDonalds when you all have Sonic and Dairy Queen?

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  8. AMH, sure looks like the critter. I had one snake crawl through the It'll Du while I was sitting on the throne and when I described it to a snake hunter he said it was a checkered garter snake. Difference being it was solid white with green specks all over it. That one survived because all I did was take a rod and push it around until it left. Since then the It'll Du has been snake proofed as good as I can get it.

    Dani, McD's was on the way to where I was going and I was hungry and intended to get breakfast, but it turned out to be too late for that so I had a burger, fries and coke. I seldom get that down here. What can I say? I'm a junk food junkey. Next trip I'll probably go to the Chinese place again.

    Well the cool misty mornings are nice except for all the ache joints. :(

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  9. MsB, I like DQ and Sonic both better, but was in a hurry and MD's was there. I promise never to do it again though. ;) There are also some great Mexican food places and a great steak house there. I might draw straws to figure out where to eat next time.

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  10. Try a copper bracelet - reputed to help aching joints in damp weather :)

    Junk food junkey - LOL never too old to change - so, when are you planting your tomatoes?

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  11. An elderly woman at the Retirement Home I work at asked me to move a big (4ft) black snake curled up beside her car. I went out to scare it off and found it was dead. So, I picked it up and carried it to the trash. When she saw me throw it in the bin, she got upset.

    "I did not mean for you to kill it!" she said.

    "He left me no choice" I replied. "He had a knife!"

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  12. Dani, I don't like wearing bracelets or jewelry of any kind and I'm real skeptical that the copper bracelets work anyway. As far as the tomatoes go the heat got to them a long time ago. Maybe by next spring I'll have some sort of green house to put some in. Then again Maybe not.

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  13. That's a good one Matt M. She probably didn't think it was funny though?

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  14. I thought all Texas snakes carried knives?

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  15. DD, the ones dressed in green carry AR15s (The new SS)

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  16. I not only enjoy your blog, the comments depending on the subject such as this are hilarious.:D

    Have you seen Denese or Frann lately? They have not updated their blogs in a while.

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  17. MsB, I think they're permanently PO'ed at me and the same for me about them so the answer is no I haven't seen them since the party.

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  18. Btw, your picture of the misty blue mountains is now my screen saver.

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  19. Nice to know someone is getting some good out of the photos Matt.

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  20. I hate snakes! Well it's not a Rattle snake that's for sure, and for those that don't know even a three piece Rattle snake can kill you.

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  21. Bkid, yep you want to give the business end a lot of respect even after the head has been separated from the rest. I was fooling around with a baby rattler one time and couldn't believe how long the fangs were on it.

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  22. BTW I ran in to Jerry today and he told me BG's wife died. I know there are a lot of people down here that know him. My thoughts go out to him. He drives a wrecker down here and does automotive work as well.

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  23. You mean "Beechie"? She had cancer and there were no more treatments for her. Sorry to hear that, they are good people.

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  24. Yeah Bkid, Beechie's wife is what I meant.

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