My Garden in the Spring
copyright © kay eneim 2009
I think homegrown flowers are the most beautiful to paint, and I think it's good for a person to get down in the dirt and dig... so gardening is good for me. Time flies when I'm in the garden.
Well... a few weeks ago I had a rude awakening. I was greeted...up REALLY CLOSE and personal...by a rattlesnake!
He had been hiding in the overgrown herb bed. When I started watering the bushy plants he was hiding under, he decided to pop his head up out of the bush, about a foot above, and he just looked at me. He then slithered over and down to a clearing. That's when I saw the rattles on the tail.
Surprising to me, he never coiled and he never rattled. Thankfully, he didn't strike. I might easily have begun digging in that spot. It happened on the Feast of the Guardian Angels. I am very grateful to mine.
Not being any sort of expert on the subject of rattlesnakes, I can only guess that, with the cooler weather, he was starting to get sluggish for his winter sleep. I've heard that rattlers don't always warn you with their 'rattle' when they are around, but I was pretty shocked to have experienced it.
I will definitely keep the garden trimmed closer from now on so those critters won't have a place to hide anymore because I still love... truly LOVE... living in the desert!
