Life in the Country #2 (power up 100%)

For the second in my "Life in the Country" series, we'll look at a few examples of wildlife we'd see off and on. If you want to read #1 in the series, it is here: https://steemit.com/hive-185836/@cryptigital/life-in-the-country-1-power-up-100

The posts of our back porch were around 6 feet a apart, yet for a while a large spider made a new web, nightly, between the the posts, the ceiling and the floor. Sometimes we would catch her in the act and get to watch her methodically connect the almost-circles to the silk thread she had already made radiating from the center. What a fascinating process.

The web would almost never be there whenever we looked for it in the morning, but every night it would reappear, as if by magic.

Rattlesnakes would appear now and then. "Uncovered" would be more accurate. Every time but once I was able to relocate them farther away from us, in a dry creek bed. I found this little one when I lifted the garage door one day. To the left in the photo, you can see the metal channel of the garage door, so you can see it wasn't a big one... 18 inches tops. (about 45 centimeters) They can get as long as a human is tall. Small ones are just as poisonous, though. Some have said even more so. You can see its rattle is just barely forming.

Fortunately the weather was cool, and so it wasn't active. When it realized it was uncovered, it very slowly started crawling behind some boxes. Uh Oh. I couldn't let it hide and grow up in the garage! I didn't have time to get a bucket or anything, so I took a deep breath, and all in one motion I grabbed its tail and flung it out into the yard Whew! Then I was able to capture and relocate it. When I told the story, one of my friends remarked that he had never met anyone who had grabbed a rattler by the tail. Actually plenty of people handle them, but it was certainly a first for me! And I don't expect a second.

They ARE beautiful, though.

When we first moved to that place, there was a lot of mowing to do in the area around the house and beyond. I uncovered a nest of cottontail rabbits without even realizing it, until I was looking around later. They had fur, but their eyes were not yet open. I put some cardboard over it to help protect them, and checked on them daily. I never saw the mother, which I read is pretty inattentive, anyway. Later they opened their eyes, but I didn't ever see them exit the nest, or hop around. I'm assuming they made it to the tall grass when they decided it was time to leave home. Sure was fun to see!

There were other exciting sights that I don't have good pictures of, like great horned owls, hawks and coyotes. We had a bird feeder in the yard, so we were always treated to cardinals, blue jays, bluebirds and an occasional woodpecker. Flocks of black birds would sometime swarm in noisily and turn the trees black, there were so many. I'll treasure the memories of living there.

In post number three in this series, I'll share some beautiful sunset photos. Thanks for reading!