So I'm (Thinking I'm) watering the apricot tree, when I go down and it turns out all the water I'd run so far just ran off into the meadow because the tree's basin has pretty much filled in with clay during the monsoon. I grab a shovel and start tossing dirt into the breaches in the basin. There's a big tumbleweed in my way. I give it a chop with the shovel. Something lands on my forearm.
The biggest, most ginormous brown recluse I've ever personally seen is STANDING ON MY ARM! AUGH!!
Fortunately it seemed as surprised by the whole thing as I was and made no objection to being flipped right the hell back off my arm. Since it let me live, I gave it the same courtesy and we parted ways amicably.
Oddly, this was on almost exactly the same spot as the Snake Episode a few weeks ago.
12 comments:
huh?
Sometimes my keyboard - or possibly my copy of Linux - just goes off and does weird things and I have to try and catch up.
Complete O/T but related to an earlier post on the "booger hook:"
Amazing political ad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU7fhIO7DG0
enjoy
-S
Good move, you really don't want to deal with the tissue destruction resulting from a Brown Recluse bite.
So now you're saying there are snakes AND bad spiders???? You like this because....
Desert, Ms. M. Fangs on the fauna kinda go with the territory. Given that, there's only one practical approach:
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For I am the meanest SOB in the valley."
lol the snake thing made me laugh. this just freaks me out. I thought they stayed under stuff not on bushes!
Ah, Joel... I lived in the Mojave desert for most of my life and have encountered all sorts of critters, both bad and neutral.
Hope you shake out your shoes each time before you put them on and stuff like that.
Found a very large, grumpy tarantula one day in my slippers. Dumped it outside and never saw it again - but the scorpions and centipedes I usually killed.
Amazing sometimes how much animal life there is in the desert. :) Glad you are ok.
Did you manage to get fruit from the Apricot tree this year Joel, earlier you seemed almost optimistic that you just might.
Nope. Not a hint of fruit. The tree did flower somewhat this spring, but once again no joy.
Try pollinating the blossoms with a small horse-hair water color brush. As for deadly critters, you can't kill a scorpion by stepping on it. My Granpa used to live in the Mojave and he ran over a scorpion with his semi truck and it lived. Shooting them works though.
Ramen Fiend
Ah - the joys of desert living...
If it doesn't prick, stick, or bite you - it's probably hiding something that does.
Saw a coral snake a few days ago while puttering in the brush around the compost area. My first thought was "what a pretty little snake" - until a few seconds later when I realised the banding meant it was either a coral or king snake. It was a few feet away and only 18" long and when I instinctually stamped my foot it slithered away into the brush. Of course - that's when I realised I should get a better look at the banding to see if it actually was a coral snake. Went inside and looked it up - yep - red on yellow kills a fellow!
Also saw a baby rattler a week before this - only about 8" long. Cute as the dickens except for it being a rattler! Its little tail end was vibrating furiously but no sound - rattle hadn't developed enough to be functional. It was disappointing in that some bigger rattler managed to hatch a brood nearby and that all that one's brothers and sisters were out lurking somewhere waiting to grow up into bigger rattlers.
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