Vicki Lane's Blog, page 539

Silent Sunday

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Daffodils and SNAKES!!!!

If you're creeped out by snakes, you may want to make a graceful exit along about now. Come back tomorrow.  But Martin H. over at Square Sunshine asked what dangerous snakes we have in the US and here they are, beginning with the Copperhead, of which we have quite a few on our mountain. 
  Copperheads are venomous but rarely fatal. (I have a friend who was bitten by one and she said it was the most pain she's ever experienced.) They are fond of wood piles and rock walls so we try to be cautious around both.

The darker race of copperheads look a lot like our Northern Water Snakes but Copperheads have the slim neck and wide head of the pit viper. They also have vertical pupils whereas the water snake's pupils are round -- a handy identification reference, if you can get that close. 


The other venomous snake in western North Carolina is the rattle snake.
There are many varieties of rattle snakes (rattlers) in the US; here in the mountains we have the timber rattler. Or so I'm told. I've never seen one on our place but that doesn't mean there are none. His scientific name is crotalus horridus but there are few recorded fatalities from his bite. 

No Water Moccasins in the mountains, thank goodness. If you ever saw Lonesome Dove and the scene where the cowboys are crossing the river- well, never mind but talk about creeping you out. . .
  Water moccasins are also called cottonmouths. When disturbed, they will hold their heads up and open their mouths wide, displaying the pale interior. These snakes are aggressive and highly venomous.

We don't have any Coral Snakes so no need for the rhyme Scouts learn-"Red and yellow -- kill a fellow/ Red and black--friend of Jack."
(The harmless Scarlet King Snake looks very similar, but in the King Snake, the red and black bands are touching, not separated by yellow.)


Coral Snakes sound pretty scary -- related as they are to cobras, mambas, and sea snakes. But they are highly reclusive and non-aggressive. They aren't pit vipers and don't inject venom into their victim -- they literally have to chew it in.  I've never seen one in the wild, though I lived in Florida (which has all four venomous snakes) over thirty years.
The pictures of snakes came from HERE  
Click the link for lots more information on venomous snakes of the USA.
Or just enjoy a snake-free clump of daffodils.
 

More Signs of Spring . . .

A few warm days and the Autumn Joy sedum's green rosettes are pushing aside the mulch . . 

Lilac buds are swelling, eager to burst free of their leafy swaddling... The weeping willow is a veil of chartreuse-green. And in the dark basement, last year's potatoes are sprouting . . .

I spend a little time on the porch, rubbing those spindly white sprouts off before returning the potatoes to the darkness. They'll  keep longer de-sprouted (which is why most commercial potatoes are treated with something to prevent sprouting.)

Just another sign of Spring. . .

Turkey Two-Step Thursday

Two wild tom turkeys practice their moves without a turkey lady in sight. The dropped wings and the fanned tail feathers are gorgeous but for me . . . I'd have to say that the blue faces are the perfect finishing touch. ( Click pics to biggify and get the full effect of these guys' courting finery.)

My Friend Josie

My friend Josie is heading to California today -- a cross-country move that's been in the works for quite a while now but is suddenly and horribly A Done Deal. 

The windows are blank and bare in her house and all the folk art and books and paintings that made it such a friendly place have been loaded on a truck, along with her furniture and even her car, and are probably making their way through the Midwest along about now. 
Josie's been a part of our family for a long time. I met her in a painting class over ten years ago and was drawn to her because she always had a quiet smile as if she saw a bit of a giggle in everything. 

I even wrote about Josie in Art's Blood - she was the one who ushered the obnoxious woman on the cell phone out of the class -- something that actually happened.
We'll stay in touch by the internet and I plan to go visit Josie -- and she says she'll come back to see us.

But still -- there's an empty spot in our lives today and even the spring flowers look a little sad..

FAQ - Do You Outline?

Q: Do you make a detailed outline before you begin to write a novel?
A: I'm often asked this and up till now my answer as been "No, I send my editor a few pages indicating a bit about characters and plot -- what's the main problem, what are the conflicts, what are some high points, and what's the resolution."
But things have changed. The novel I want to write next isn't about Elizabeth Goodweather nor is it a spin-off like The Day of Small Things.  It's still in the mountains, still in mythical Marshall County.  But it's a whole new cast of characters and not really a mystery.
And since I'm not a best-selling author, getting a new contract isn't a foregone conclusion. It's not my editor's decision alone. The new novel basically has to be pitched to a group of people - including marketing -- who will be asking one question. And that question isn't Is this novel going to be a well-written book? 
No, the question is Will this book sell a lot of copies?   Because, like it or not, publishing is a business. So I've been directed to write a really detailed proposal -- almost a chapter by chapter synopsis.  I make a start -- and I find I'm writing the book rather than a synopsis. Arrgh!

Which is why I'm giving the Snowflake Method a try.  Back in the fall, one of the students in my writing class told us about this way of working out a plot and I was intrigued. (I'm not going to try to paraphrase it here -- check the link if you're interested.)  Now I'm working through it, trying to come up with a dynamite proposal.


It takes time -- but I'm hopeful that the hours spent on this meticulous outline will save days when it comes to writing and I won't be up in my workroom in the wee hours of the morning, trying to figure out what should happen next.

Time to Get My House in Order...

Okay, that's not actually my house. It's one I saw deep in the wilds of Alabama and it reminded me of what can happen when one accumulates too much stuff -- an event horizon that our house is rapidly approaching, especially in my workroom and my closet...
I've taken twenty or so boxes of books off to our library and how good that felt! -- but I couldn't resist bringing home two boxes of books that my friend who's moving offered to me. 
I tell myself, as I've told myself before, every time I leave the  house, I should take a box or two of 'stuff' -- to the dumpsters or the Goodwill. 
But which stuff? I have a massive fabric collection --I hardly ever make a quilt anymore but  I might take a notion...
My painting supplies, including a giant easel, take up a lot of space in my workroom and I haven't touched a brush in five or six years. But am I ready to say never on that particular avocation? I won't even mention the gourds...

Simple Sunday

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free, 'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,And when we find ourselves in the place just right, 'Twill be in the valley of love and delight. When true simplicity is gain'd, To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.
This lovely tune is from the Shakers -- an odd religious sect that created some beautiful furniture, ingenious inventions, including a flat broom, and brought a welcome new aesthetic to America. They're well worth learning more about.


 

Always Use a Bag - Repost

I'm fascinated by the beauty of many natural things -- old bones, shells, rocks -- and shed snakeskins. It's amazing to me how a six foot plus blacksnake can slip out of his old skin so neatly, leaving behind a perfect ghostly image of himself down to the lenses that covered his eyes.

There's been ample opportunity to study these shed skins -- we have one blacksnake who leaves a skin in our greenhouse several times a year while others twine their discarded finery into the crevices of our rock walls.

Blacksnakes are mostly welcome around our place -- they eat rats and mice and are said to deter copperheads. Unfortunately, they also eat baby birds and on occasion, one has taken up residence in our chicken house, swallowing the eggs one after another. When this happens, I try to catch the snake, put him in a bag, and take him for a ride around the mountain to release him in a wooded area.

I didn't always use a bag. It just didn't occur to me. But came the fateful day when I had hold of a great large snake lumpy with just-swallowed eggs. I handed him to my 15 year old son to hold while I drove the truck to the accustomed snake release area a few miles away.

We hadn't even gotten down to our mailbox before the snake began to poop. (Somehow, I'd never considered this possibility.) It was pasty and yellow and smelled (no surprise here) like rotten eggs. Appalled, my son let go of the snake's body but managed to hang on to his neck. "Arrrgh!" my son shouted. "Mum! Look what your snake is doing!"

And now the snake was regurgitating the last egg he'd eaten. I stopped the truck. "Just put him out here," I said, trying to sound really calm.

Easier said than done. My son had control of half of the snake -- the head end. But the tail end had slithered under the truck seat and was firmly wrapped around the jack.

By the time I'd gotten the indignant snake loose, the completely indignant son mollified, and the interior of the truck cleaned out, I'd learned a lesson.

Always use a bag.

 This is a snake, lumpy with something he's just eaten -- probably mice. and this is a re-post -- there were no comments on its first outing three years ago -- maybe everyone was just grossed out.

Early Bloomers

The hellebores are finally emerging. In a milder winter, they bloom earlier, living up to the name of  Christmas Roses. 

This year we'll have to settle for their other  appellation -- Lenten Roses. But a rose hellebore by any name is a welcome sight.
And the winter jasmine's pale yellow flowers are beginning to twinkle on its bare stems -- brightening even a gray day.
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