Well around the Reed Ranch wild life is normal too. We do live “out in the boonies” compared to most in this area.. it’s basically a barely paved dirt road on the far edge of Rattlesnake Canyon. Tooth Rock sits atop the mountain next to us. When the boys were younger they use to ride their bikes in the hills, making motocross tracks and discovering all kinds of varmints.
And I’m sure most of you have heard our stories about various creatures around the yard… and yes even in the house… There constantly are rabbits scampering around… (sore subject this year as they destroyed Jerry’s entire tomato patch.. those pesky ‘wabbits)… We constantly have lizards and crickets and mice, spiders and even scorpions on occasion. Once we even had a skunk in our oven, honest truth… story for another time… But the most common occurrence around this area are lizards and snakes. Not so much lately as the wildfires that came through the past could years have unfortunately pretty much ruined all habitats… but in the past having a snake in the yard was quite common.
Jerry has had much experience in snake catching. Most garden snakes he catches and releases up into the hills… but along come a rattlesnake, and sorry, they’re toast. And we’ve had our share. Thankfully never has there been in incident … although I do believe years ago it’s a rattlesnake that bit our young kitten.. didn’t kill her but a few days later she just wandered off never to be seen again.. so sad. But back to the story.
Now if you’re squeamish maybe you want to hit DELETE right now… and never would I have taken this picture unless Jerry asked me to… just not the image I want to have in my mind… but here’s one of his proud moments…. I must say, if you are looking, that sucker is nearly as tall as Jerry is… and that’s “headless” (Jerry not the snake) !!!!
The legacy continues… while Allen was in high school he had a phenomenal Biology teacher at Poway High School… so much that he inspired Allen to also become a Biology Teacher. So are you not surprised to hear that Allen had a boa constrictor as his “pet” for several years…. I can’t remember what he named him… probably George or something like that… but we had him in this gigantic 100 gallon aquarium tank in the TV room. Most of the time Allen would hold George while we watched TV in the evenings ... It was all I could do to barely touch him … but hold him… no thanks. What does a boa constrictor eat? Any thing he wants!! No seriously, he eats mice. So I kinda thought that might not be so bad.. could keep our mice population to a minimum.. but no.. not field mice.. they eat those expensive little white mice you have to buy every other day at the pet store. Have you ever watched a snake eat a mouse? Don’t.
Allen did go on to get his degree in Biology from UC Santa Barbara. He got a job with El Cajon High School as their Biology Teacher so it all paid off. Although he doesn’t teach Biology any loner (now teaches Ceramics), we’ll always attribute his career path to George and the other Reed Ranch creatures.
Thus the nut doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Be thankful your kids just want a guinea pig.
No comments:
Post a Comment