I was looking out a window one evening, hoping to see something exciting. Sometimes I just get this urge to look out the window and it seems there is always a surprise waiting for me. It was almost dark and I saw a black item laying on the porch. I thought maybe I had left something laying there for the black devil Shadow to devour in the middle of the night. I ran out to find a black chicken snake that had just fallen off the wall after feasting on a swallow nest. The swallows are part of our family and he had one in his mouth. The snake was lucky, we let him slither off into the night.. We felt a sense of loss over the swallows that had just become his meal.
Last year I was away for the night supervising an all night lock in for my son's graduating class. As I said before, my husband can sleep through almost anything except maybe a squeaking board in the floor. I arrived home about 7 am to find the black lab's face quite swollen. Upon further investigation I saw two fang marks spaced rather far apart on his nose. I knew he had been bitten by a large rattlesnake. This dog puts up quite a fuss when he sees a snake but my husband slept right through it. I put the dog in my car and headed for my vet. Of course it was Saturday and he was on vacation. The vet tech sent me to the next town about 12 miles away assuring that vet would be in. As luck would have it, the neighboring vet was not in his offce that Saturday either. I had been away all night supervising a large group of 18 years olds...it was all I could do to keep my eyes open as I headed back home clutching the steering wheel with all I had in me thinking that would somehow keep me awake. I'm sure I fell asleep at the wheel a few times before I reached home. Thankfully my car knew the way through the white and drifted caliche!
I woke my husband and told him my story and he was a gentleman, agreeing to chauffeur me and the black dog to find a vet. We called ahead to another neighboring town a little further away. They said, yes, they would see the dog. As we neared the vet I received a call from them telling me they were sorry for the inconvenience but they had over booked and I would have to drive even further to the next town.
We arrived at the Animal Diagnostic Hospital, the name in itself should have told me not to enter those doors.. Shadow was ushered into an exam room in no distress,,,,nothing bothers this dog. Triage was performed, I was gifted with a computer print out of the impending damage to my bank account...only $2,200. Ha, surely they did not know who they were talking to. My husband was tucked away neatly into a comfy chair in the waiting room, thank goodness for that or he would have had us all exit through the same door we came in. I examined the bill and told them they would have to do better than that. I love my dog but jeez that was overkill. My philosophy has always been, "first do no harm" to my dog or my check book. They were very patient with me and came back with an estimate of slightly under $2,000. I told them it was not good enough, they needed to do better. With a little grin the vet tech retreated to the office again and returned a short time later. I guess the matter was discussed and it was decided I was going to be one of those customers who was not going to part with their money easily. I grinned to myself as I waited in the exam room, imagining what they were saying about me in the outer office. This time the estimate was reduced to under $1000. I decided to help them. I told them I would take a cortisone shot, a benydryl shot and an antibiotic shot. I got out of there for less than $200. Woe be to the next unsuspecting victim.
We stopped at Walmart for more benydryl and we had a stock of amoxicillin at home.I medicated Shadow each day for about a week. The dog did just fine. The swelling got worse before it got better but eventually he recovered. He never missed a meal or a chance to play. I must mention that I do keep pretty current with an annual rattlesnake shot for my dogs. I wonder what they did before rattlesnake vaccinations? I suppose most dogs survived although I have heard some horror stories about dogs and snake bites. The anti venom price is outrageous, plus kennel fees, and iv therapy.
Thereafter when there is a rattlesnake in our yard or on the porch Shadow lets us know loud and clear, "rattlesnake". He always did before but his bark is much more fierce now.
Why is it the dogs always start to bark as we turn out the lights and just begin to drift into sleep? We were at that stage of slumber when I recognized Shadow's "I've got a snake bark". We jump out of bed, grab the flashlight and turn on all outside lights. We didn't need to go far....in the carport under the vehicle was a small rattler wedged under the edge of a tire. He had come to get his dinner and he had a mouse in his mouth. I'm certain he was wondering why we were interrupting his attempts to swallow his dinner. It didn't occur to us to just start the engine and roll over him, that would have solved the problem quite safely. Instead, my husband squirted him with the water hose and after a bit he came into the open. The memory of being bitten by one of these slithery creatures was still fresh in Shadow's mind. He laid down on the floor of the carport and began to shake and cry. My husband quickly disposed of the diner and we retreated back into slumber land.
In the early days of moving to the country as we began to deal with snakes, my first instinct was to set them free outside the yard. Against my husband's better judgement he listened to me and once put a rattler into a 5 gallon bucket with a handle. I instructed him to take the bucket down the hill and toss the snake over the fence. He did just that but along the way the snake struck at his hand. He was fast enough to drop the bucket and not get bitten. He had a hoe in his hand, surely I thought he would have had enough forethought to slip the handle of the bucket over the end of the hoe. He quickly learned that was the thing to do. After that incident he doesn't listen to me. He now employs swift and speedy justice for having ventured into his yard....death!
Speaking of mice, we had a small family of them living in the back of our wine cooler before it was installed into it's cubby in the kitchen. Our refrigerator had not been delivered yet so we were using the wine cooler as a frig. My son and I were sitting in the kitchen talking and I thought I saw something in my peripheral vision. I asked my son if he saw anything and indeed he did. We decided that there was a creature of some sort in our house. We sat quietly and waited and "yep" there was a mouse. Humans sometimes do things out of habit or just because they think that's the way to do things. After all, mouse traps are manufactured and sold to trap and kill mice. So we did what seemed logical at the time. My husband set a trap and before we went to bed we had killed the mother of this mice family. Again, without thinking my son and I found the babies all nestled safe and warm in the back of the wine cooler. We picked up each one by the tail and deposited them outside in the cold. The next morning my conscience kicked in and I was feeling awfully bad for what I had done.
We had a young friend in his 20's come through on his motor bike and stay a few days. He is a birder, he counts and researches birds. He was coming from Delaware, on his way to Phoenix to observe Falcons. The day he was leaving we found a mouse in our bathtub. Having remembered the family I murdered recently I couldn't kill again so I decided to make amends. Our guest put the little mouse in a cardboard tube and released him somewhere along his route.
Our motor cycle friend has his own blog which is an awesome read of his travels:
http://www.motorbikebirder.com/
Last year I was away for the night supervising an all night lock in for my son's graduating class. As I said before, my husband can sleep through almost anything except maybe a squeaking board in the floor. I arrived home about 7 am to find the black lab's face quite swollen. Upon further investigation I saw two fang marks spaced rather far apart on his nose. I knew he had been bitten by a large rattlesnake. This dog puts up quite a fuss when he sees a snake but my husband slept right through it. I put the dog in my car and headed for my vet. Of course it was Saturday and he was on vacation. The vet tech sent me to the next town about 12 miles away assuring that vet would be in. As luck would have it, the neighboring vet was not in his offce that Saturday either. I had been away all night supervising a large group of 18 years olds...it was all I could do to keep my eyes open as I headed back home clutching the steering wheel with all I had in me thinking that would somehow keep me awake. I'm sure I fell asleep at the wheel a few times before I reached home. Thankfully my car knew the way through the white and drifted caliche!
I woke my husband and told him my story and he was a gentleman, agreeing to chauffeur me and the black dog to find a vet. We called ahead to another neighboring town a little further away. They said, yes, they would see the dog. As we neared the vet I received a call from them telling me they were sorry for the inconvenience but they had over booked and I would have to drive even further to the next town.
We arrived at the Animal Diagnostic Hospital, the name in itself should have told me not to enter those doors.. Shadow was ushered into an exam room in no distress,,,,nothing bothers this dog. Triage was performed, I was gifted with a computer print out of the impending damage to my bank account...only $2,200. Ha, surely they did not know who they were talking to. My husband was tucked away neatly into a comfy chair in the waiting room, thank goodness for that or he would have had us all exit through the same door we came in. I examined the bill and told them they would have to do better than that. I love my dog but jeez that was overkill. My philosophy has always been, "first do no harm" to my dog or my check book. They were very patient with me and came back with an estimate of slightly under $2,000. I told them it was not good enough, they needed to do better. With a little grin the vet tech retreated to the office again and returned a short time later. I guess the matter was discussed and it was decided I was going to be one of those customers who was not going to part with their money easily. I grinned to myself as I waited in the exam room, imagining what they were saying about me in the outer office. This time the estimate was reduced to under $1000. I decided to help them. I told them I would take a cortisone shot, a benydryl shot and an antibiotic shot. I got out of there for less than $200. Woe be to the next unsuspecting victim.
We stopped at Walmart for more benydryl and we had a stock of amoxicillin at home.I medicated Shadow each day for about a week. The dog did just fine. The swelling got worse before it got better but eventually he recovered. He never missed a meal or a chance to play. I must mention that I do keep pretty current with an annual rattlesnake shot for my dogs. I wonder what they did before rattlesnake vaccinations? I suppose most dogs survived although I have heard some horror stories about dogs and snake bites. The anti venom price is outrageous, plus kennel fees, and iv therapy.
Thereafter when there is a rattlesnake in our yard or on the porch Shadow lets us know loud and clear, "rattlesnake". He always did before but his bark is much more fierce now.
Why is it the dogs always start to bark as we turn out the lights and just begin to drift into sleep? We were at that stage of slumber when I recognized Shadow's "I've got a snake bark". We jump out of bed, grab the flashlight and turn on all outside lights. We didn't need to go far....in the carport under the vehicle was a small rattler wedged under the edge of a tire. He had come to get his dinner and he had a mouse in his mouth. I'm certain he was wondering why we were interrupting his attempts to swallow his dinner. It didn't occur to us to just start the engine and roll over him, that would have solved the problem quite safely. Instead, my husband squirted him with the water hose and after a bit he came into the open. The memory of being bitten by one of these slithery creatures was still fresh in Shadow's mind. He laid down on the floor of the carport and began to shake and cry. My husband quickly disposed of the diner and we retreated back into slumber land.
In the early days of moving to the country as we began to deal with snakes, my first instinct was to set them free outside the yard. Against my husband's better judgement he listened to me and once put a rattler into a 5 gallon bucket with a handle. I instructed him to take the bucket down the hill and toss the snake over the fence. He did just that but along the way the snake struck at his hand. He was fast enough to drop the bucket and not get bitten. He had a hoe in his hand, surely I thought he would have had enough forethought to slip the handle of the bucket over the end of the hoe. He quickly learned that was the thing to do. After that incident he doesn't listen to me. He now employs swift and speedy justice for having ventured into his yard....death!
Speaking of mice, we had a small family of them living in the back of our wine cooler before it was installed into it's cubby in the kitchen. Our refrigerator had not been delivered yet so we were using the wine cooler as a frig. My son and I were sitting in the kitchen talking and I thought I saw something in my peripheral vision. I asked my son if he saw anything and indeed he did. We decided that there was a creature of some sort in our house. We sat quietly and waited and "yep" there was a mouse. Humans sometimes do things out of habit or just because they think that's the way to do things. After all, mouse traps are manufactured and sold to trap and kill mice. So we did what seemed logical at the time. My husband set a trap and before we went to bed we had killed the mother of this mice family. Again, without thinking my son and I found the babies all nestled safe and warm in the back of the wine cooler. We picked up each one by the tail and deposited them outside in the cold. The next morning my conscience kicked in and I was feeling awfully bad for what I had done.
We had a young friend in his 20's come through on his motor bike and stay a few days. He is a birder, he counts and researches birds. He was coming from Delaware, on his way to Phoenix to observe Falcons. The day he was leaving we found a mouse in our bathtub. Having remembered the family I murdered recently I couldn't kill again so I decided to make amends. Our guest put the little mouse in a cardboard tube and released him somewhere along his route.
Our motor cycle friend has his own blog which is an awesome read of his travels:
http://www.motorbikebirder.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment