Mid Summer, Garter Snake, Flowers and stuff.

I went shooting yesterday. Right. I am a Liberal, a Conservationist, and Environmentalist, and I love to shoot. I am not averse to hunting either, legal hunting of a plentiful animal. I am not against gun ownership by honest people who have no trouble with the law. Oh, and are not crazy or have a history of domestic violence. You have a problem with gun ownership? Then don't own one. Simple. Don't believe in gay marriage? Don't marry one. Don't believe in abortion? Don't get one. Just don't try to take my rights away because you believe another way.

Okay. Soapbox out of the way. While digging for brass that other shooters had kindly left in some trash bins, and brass others had left where it fell, I espied a Garter Snake, whom I proceeded to grab. I had steeled myself for a bite, as many Garters will certainly nip when handled, but she didn't, and did what I did not expect (though I should have, really), which is a Garter's main line of defense anyway, and musked me.
Now, think of your garbage can on a hot July day. It hasn't been cleaned in weeks, not since winter, and the smell coming off is almost visible. That is what Garter Snake musk smells like. They will start their tail to whirling like a helicopter, and spray it all over you, then try to rub it in by wiping their tail all over your hand. Then, as she did, they will also poop on you. Smells wonderful... Of course, think of yourself being picked up by a much larger animal like an Elephant - you might poop too. Anyway, I grabbed out my camera and started taking photos. I did not realize until looking at the photos that she had only one eye, but otherwise she looked healthy. I suspect a crow or jay of trying to kill her for this disability. Here are some pictures.
This is after she calmed down, though she still was sort of tied in knots (I couldn't resist). I also got a couple of nice ones of her on a rock, where I managed to get her to calm down enough to be still a few seconds.
When I started home, I felt the need to stop somewhere to wash my hands, as the smell was driving me crazy. The shooting range is near a place called Sunburst, a former sawmill town that once cut spruce for US warplanes in WW I. There is now a cozy little campground and a small picnic area there, and it fortunately has a bathroom. After getting the smell off my hands, I noticed that the Rhodendron, called Mountain Laurel by the locals, was blooming, and I got a couple of shots. They are just about gone at this elevation (around 2700 feet), though may be in full bloom at higher elevations.

The photo is a bit blurry, as I could not get the camera to focus on the flowers. Oh to have an SLR!

While going to a drug store to get some alcohol to make a tincture (external, so it can be Isopropyl) of Yarrow for a friend's Poison Oak, I saw a Sourwood blooming where I could get to it, and got a couple of shots of it too.



Thankfully, these are not too blurry, and you can see the tiny flowers that make some nurseries try to sell this as "Lily of the Valley Tree", though it is not related to any Lilies at all, but to Blueberries, Rhododendrons and others (Heath Family). More on Sourwood in a later blog.

Next I saw a Sumac, probably a Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra L.) growing nearby, a pretty plant that also has an edible component, the "berries", which can be steeped in water to make a "pink lemonade". My aunt, my mom's sister, was told by a doctor back in the 1930's to eat these for a kidney infection; antibiotics were unheard of in that day. She lived well into her 80's.

Well, enough for that. Just wanted to share some photos. I will probably do a blog on each of the pictures, but enough for now.