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March 5, 2013

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Life at Big Garden, Postaweek

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Lost in the Details.

This week’s challenge asks that we choose a photo in which something gets lost in the details. To me, this means “hidden in plain sight,” but first I’ll give you the context and overview of the story.

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Off-camera to the left (in the photo above) sits a water spigot and potting table where most of my days begin. I typically fill a bunch of receptacles, then set about the gardens pouring drinks. 😉

On Sunday morning, I reached beyond the watering cans toward the hose and nearly had a stroke ❗ A loooonnngggg  black snake rose out of a coil, stuck his forked tongue out and hissed at me!  I ran for the camera but just like the other 4x I’ve seen this reptile, it disappeared before I came back. This is one fast-moving snake!

However…..

It seems I wasn’t the only one jumping out of her skin from Sunday’s encounter.  Look what I saw on Monday!

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This molted skin was so well camouflaged, my brain barely processed what my eyes took in!  Definitely lost in the details!  Only after turning away did I think, “wait…was that…..?”  Yup!  A fresh molt from a Southern Black Racer, one of Florida’s most common, non-venomous snakes.  Here’s a different orientation of the shed skin, which measured 40″ long.  Typical adult length is 3-5′

Fresh skin shed from Black Racer Snake, 3/3/13

When cornered (as it was on Sunday) Black Racers will strike and bite….fast!  True to their name, they do everything from slithering to swimming to climbing at incredibly quick speeds. For further information I recommend reading the Black Snake area of the Nighbreeze website.

To see other bloggers’ interpretations of this week’s challenge, take a peek at the Zemanta provided links below!

Until next time…..

smileygardening21

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37 thoughts on “Weekly Photo Challenge: Lost in the Details.”

    • I know! Seriously, I almost overlooked the skin entirely. Sunday and Monday were both unseasonably cold (37-52 Fahrenheit) so I think it sought some warmth between the house and heatpump.

  6. Wow, how nice to have a snake in your garden but hopefully you won’t startle each other like that again!
    Thanks for the pingback

  7. Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Lost In The Details | Flickr Comments

  9. Yikes! I would have jumped straight in the air and screamed like a little girl! When I saw your header I knew something snakey was coming.. 🙂 Great shot for “lost in the details”!

  10. This is a great back-story, thank you for sharing it! I’m not afraid of snakes, but we have no venomous snakes here on Beaver Island. Th poisonous or aggressive snakes would give me pause, I think. Great photo!

    • No poison snakes there! That surprises me…I assumed you had water mocassins there at the very least.
      (this is what I like most about blogging: learning something new every day!)

      • We do have water snakes – aggressive, fast swimming black snakes that will bite, but they are not poisonous. I’ve only heard them called water snakes, so I don’t know the correct name for them. We also have no bear, porcupine, possum, skunk or rat here. It helps to be an island twenty miles from the mainland!

  11. Whoa! I would have ran away screaming!
    I don’t think we have snakes around here, the closest I’ve seen was one from the Biodome. LOL!
    Great story though 🙂

    • Consider yourself lucky! 🙂
      I am so surprised by the amount of likes and comments this post has generated! I guess everyone likes a good snake story….esp when it’s someone else’s!
      😉

    • Thank you for the nice compliment!
      I love your blog! It brings me back in time to some very nice memories! We lived in Fairfax VA for 5 years (on the Falls Church end) and I used to sneak up to the MD countryside around Annapolis quite often. I loved pushing my oldest boy around in the stroller up there..such a pretty, pretty spot and lots of nice farmstands to stop at around pumpkin time!

  14. Wow! That is one exciting discovery. We really do not know what lurks behind stuff we don’t see. I kind of have a childhood fear with snakes but I know they don’t really attack unless provoked. Great post!

    • This one has always slithered away from me no problem until last Sunday. I think I must have startled it before it had a chance to notice me and react. I haven’t seen it since though!

  16. lol I hope you keep that skin. That’s a peach of a find. Usually you don’t see a whole one. It would give me quite a start to see a snake that close, but after jumping back and processing that it’s not a venomous one, I’d be most grateful for it. They are big help with pest control. 🙂

    I found the link to the free garden smileys. I’m so excited, they have lots of new fun and charming ones. I think you’re going to enjoy them as much as I do.
    http://yoursmiles.org/t-spring.php

    I tried to post a smiley here. If it doesn’t work, would you be a peach and edit the html frag out of my comment. Thanks. 🙂

  18. I had a pair of snake skin boots years ago, I loved them as I do all snakes and all other forms of life that inhabit this spinning rock .
    Be well my far away friend 🙂

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