I have no idea why yesterdays blog post went AWAL. I also have no way to retrieve it. Life is a strange and interesting place.
Plus on top of that, yesterday, we lost internet for quite some time. But I have it back up now at 9.15 am and so am taking a minute out of the gardening and building day to get you all back up to date. We were working hard outside all morning – working on Poppy’s farrowing pen and look what Kim found.
Kim tells me this is a rat snake. We are not sure of the exact species. But he toddled about in her arms for quite some time rattling his pretend tail.
Even the snakes smile on the farmy.
The birds are fine, but will remain in solitary splendour for a week or so.
Tane on the other hand is even slower now. He gets up when encouraged, eats and drinks then moves very slowly to another space and heaves himself back down for another sleep. Naturally the Vet is not in his rooms today so he will be going for a check up tomorrow.
I hope you have a lovely day, I am off around to the West Barn to collect a ladder for the goats. I am going to train them to run up and down ladders – something I am sure I will live to regret.
Kim and Fede send their love and Berit is on his way.
Love your friend on the farmy,
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
52 responses to “Snakes and Ladders”
Snakes scare me enough to start screaming. We have rattlesnakes in the mountains and they can kill you.
Glad you are back up and running
I have 2black racers and at least one Gardner in my tiny garden. Have asked the neighbors not to kill them.
My rule of thumb with snakes-long and skinny safe to have around. Fat,think,chunky keep away.
All but one poison snakes around here are fat and chunky looking. Only the coral is thin but it’s color Id’s it
yes we all seem to thnk that Tame overdid his amourous advances which is why he is not up to scratch now and did you not say there was a smile on Tune’s face..thats’ the answer..too much.
Seriously I hope that he will be ok….and as for that snake….I AM GONE!!!!!
Something I’m sure you will.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/sherlock-boomer
He He, you do realise you send the whole world into a panic when you miss a post? Hope the birds don’t develop any of those nasty symptoms. I would have to walk wide circles around Kim if she is going to continue being a snake magnet 🙂 Glad all ok on our special farmy. Laura
Glad you have returned Miss C. Tane seems to be showing the same lethargy as Tima did a few weeks ago…a piggy virus perhaps, if those things exist…
I once asked a herpetologist friend how to tell if a snake was not venomous & he said “Not if they have round instead of slit pupils.” I’d never get close enough to see the pupils of their eyes, but we can clearly observe in your photo that this is a good round-eyed fellow. And will continue to do good work in the field for you. Brave Kim! So glad you are back up online. It was worrisome.
Poor little Tane! I love rat snakes and I bet a large rat snake would love to eat a bastard mink!!! Even a large bull snake could….
Kim is a fearless snake wrangler, but it’s obvious from the state of her gloves and arms that she’s no slouch in other departments too! Goats up laders… asking for trouble, but the potential for wonderful photos cannot be ignored!
We just found last week a similar looking snake on your porch, well just similar, we thought it was a bull snake. Great post anyway, thanks. Greetings from one C to the other 🙂
Happy to see you back, and I hope all, feathered and porcine are coming along and getting better. I think Kim’s snake handling talents and the pics are excellent. I used to be terrified of snakes now I’m slightly less terrified with a mix of admiring and fascinated. The rat snake is a handsome specimen. Goats on ladders… I’m sure they’ll oblige 🙂
I’d be vying with Kim to hold that beauty. We have a lot of snakes here…..in my yard in particular and Oz in general, some harmless tree snakes and others quite deadly. All you snakeophobes, it’s best to stand still and quiet until they slither away, they respond to vibrations and will have a go, some here have been known to chase people as they run off. I always carry a pressure bandage when I’m out walking or in the garden, and tie the legs of my jeans….just a precaution. I was at a friend’s yesterday and we were sitting on the deck, and a movement, slight sound caused us to look up, and there above us was the fattest, most beautifully marked tree snake, beautiful greeny-gold diamonds glinting in the sun, stretched out along the whole length of the rafter and enjoying the sun through the clear roof. The big bulge in it’s mid section told us it had recently eaten, so we stayed where we were, drinking tea and eating cake, that snake was lethargic and busy digesting it’s dinner and wasn’t going anywhere.
You are popular enough that google caches your pages quickly.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://thekitchensgarden.com/2015/06/18/worries-for-the-flock/
So you can re-create the post if you like. Glad the birds are doing better. I missed that entirely the first read due to that darn snake.
As an Australian I can’t imagine finding safe-to-handle snakes on the farm! All the snakes we had in my farm days were venomous! I admire them from a distance. 🙂
Am glad it wasn’t just our computer. Yikes to the snake!