Sunday, May 07, 2006

Sunday Stroll

It wasn't too hot today, nor too cool, so Zach and I took a little stroll down towards a horse pasture down the road a piece. The air was fragrant with honeysuckle

and the wild flowers dotted the roadside nearly every step of the way.

We even came across some wild roses wandering down the ditch bank in a couple of spots.
Zach had just mentioned that we hadn't seen a snake when there he was, a big, old, nasty cottonmouth! Some folks call them water moccasins but we call those big, black water snakes, water moccasins. This dude wasn't one of our harmless moccasins. We could tell by his fearless refusal to move from his resting spot in a cool spot of mud and the stark white coloring inside when he opened his mouth to let us know we were intruding. I stood back a good 15 ft or so from him as I took these photos with shaking hands and the camera lens zoomed in fully.


9 comments:

Phyllis said...

I was just noticing the wildflowers by the road these past few days and was thinking how much I love Spring! The only snakes we see here are garter snakes. I can't believe you got that close!!
I just saw that movie Narnia today!! That Lion is real. What does James know! hehehehe well I thought it was!

John Strain said...

Nice photos. Don't you just love spring in the south. It has smelled so good outside here too. We have gardenias and magnolias blooming now. Before that, sweet olive and jasmine.

I like to see anything in the wild. As long as I see the snake first it's OK.

Andie Pandie said...

YIKES! I'm not afraid of snakes but I sure do respect them. ;)

Holly said...

ack! i'm not scared of snakes in general, but that dude looks like bad news!

Anonymous said...

15ft sounds much too near to me! Like the other pictures though.

T!ff@ny said...

I used to LOVE honeysuckle when I was little. I call those a cotton mouth too. We saw one not too long ago on on of our local strolls! Gives me chills thinking about it!

Mary Lou said...

EEEEEWWWWWW!!!! I have only lived in 2 places where I had to fear snakes. Virginia and Nevada, the rest of the places did not have bad snakes. Garter snakes are not dangerous and they eat slugs!! Good snakes!

Attila the Mom said...

OH geez, I'm sooooo very jealous!

I'm originally from Maryland, where I grew up with honeysuckle, lightning bugs, etc.

Up here at 9000 ft, we have a very very short growing season. Even though we have some lovely wildflowers, nothing compares to the ones from my childhood.

Gorgeous pictures!

Anonymous said...

Love the flowers - not crazy about the snake. I don't mind the harmless ones, but those with "danger signs on their backs", I like to avoid.