Guildenstern was in the middle of his kitty workout when when I went out to the sunroom the other morning — his cat-like routine on the treadmill doesn’t burn many calories, but he finds it to be very satisfying.
Tristan and David are in Madrid, Spain for a couple of weeks. You can follow their adventures at Margarine is Murder.
After I dropped Laurie off to sing in the choir at the early service, I went over to UNM and photographed the ducks and the architecture. The clouds were building up over the Sandias on my way home, so I stopped at the jetti sculpture on Coors and got the shots of the Sandias, clouds and sculpture.
Okay it’s actually a wasp, but “A Wasp and Button” didn’t quite have the same ring to it. For the rest of the story on Button, the rattlesnake we rescued on July 1, she (we decided he is probably a she) ate and then Tristan and Laurie took her out to the mesa and let her go (the last two photos).
If you have never had the opportunity to meet a western diamondback rattlesnake up close and personal, meet Button. My sister called me after she left the office to tell me there was another rattlesnake in her garage, and she was not successful herding it back out to the mesa like the last one. She had found the rattles, which it had shed in the garage, and then she found the snake. Since the snake only has one button for a rattle on his tail, we named him Button.
I drove by on my way home from work, and Dede had managed to get it in the opening of a large box. I tried to set the box up on end, but the snake crawled out before I could get it upright, and coiled up under a small bush. I noticed it was really skinny for it’s length (it should be 3 times thicker in the middle part of its body), and I called Tristan to see how long it would take her to thaw out a small rat, so we could see if it would eat before we moved it back out to the mesa. She had a couple of small rats already thawed out to feed her ball python, so she and David brought them over.
Dede noticed the snake seemed lethargic — he was not at all aggressive, hardly flicked his tongue out at all, and he allowed me reposition him into more photogenic positions with a broom stick several times while we were waiting for Tristan. The passivity was probably a combination of the hunger (he probably hasn’t had anything to eat since last year), heat, stress, fatigue and being outside of his territory.
Button was very interested in the rat we offered it and started to eat it several times, but he spat it out each time. We don’t know if the rat was not warm enough, not the right size, or that is was not wild, but he finally refused to eat it. I got Button back in the box, which was about 2 feet high, but he was able crawl right back out once I set the box upright. So we got him to crawl into a large trash can, snapped the lid on and took him to Tristan’s, where we set up a secure terrarium outside, and transferred him to it.
Once we got Button into the terrarium, he became more alert and territorial. In the last photo he is in the aquarium checking out the air with his tongue and watching Tristan, David and me as we observed him and talked about him. Snakes can’t hear, but Button is so sensitive to vibration that he would turn his attention to whoever was speaking like he was listening to and participating in the conversation. Rattlesnakes are very advanced reptiles, and appear to have more reptilian-type intelligence than other snakes (King cobras are reported to show a sense of intelligence as well). Once Button was in the terrarium, he changed his attitude, which could be because it was cooler and starting to get dark, but apparently he is content to be in the terrarium with a bowl of water, a nice hide box, and food after the trauma of being shooed out of a garage, photographed, herded into a into a box, and then a trashcan, and shaken around in my car on our way back to Tristan’s.
I got out my macro lens this morning and René and I started crawling around under squash leaves to get photos of a bee inside a squash blossom. The bee was pretty cute, but after several snaps it got tired of having a lens in its face and showed me a hefty pair of bee fangs. I can’t resist doing macro shots of damselflies and dragonflies. I sneak up on them until they fly, freeze in place and wait for them to come back (they often do), sneak up a little closer — they fly, I freeze, they come back — and the process continues until I either get the shots I want or they decide I’m too close and don’t come back.
Mama Manx has a cave in the cucumber patch where she lays on the cool mulch under the shade of the cucumber leaves. When one of us gets too close to the entrance of her cucumber cave, she darts out like a moray eel, chatters at us, then retreats back into her cave.
Puck is working on his memoirs, “Don’t Puck With Me”, and while he was taking a break he pestered Laurie for some attention while she was reading. Guildenstern was intently playing with clover under my chair while I sat on the deck enjoying the fine summer morning.
Diné laid under the chaise lounge with her paws crossed, while beautiful thunderheads built up over the Sandias and floated by earlier in the afternoon. A vulture appeared to fly above the clouds as it circled over the river. The picturesque clouds turned into a dust storm in the late afternoon, but, alas, no rain.
A few things you can find in Corrales.
Rosencrantz was lounging at Laurie’s feet while she was sketching with her left hand. Diné was eyeing another kitty and Guildenstern took Laurie’s place when she got up, disturbing Rosencrantz’ lounging position.
I drove through north Corrales and all access to the river and bosque are closed. People say we are in a drought, but really we are experiencing what is more normal for arid New Mexico. So if the bosque and state parks and wilderness areas are only going to be open when we have above normal rainfall, New Mexico may end up being closed for longer than most of us will live. Rosencrantz was hanging out in the bamboo looking smart, and René was having a bad hair day after I gave him a shower.
Sophia was begging to get out and sit on me while I was sitting at the table working on photos at Tristan’s and David’s. Apparently I remind her of her previous owner and she got very excited to be out with me, started grooming me, and regurgitating for me, which is a very loving gesture coming from an African Grey! There is a family of quail in their back yard. Mama and papa quail sit on top of the wall and act bewildered that the chicks can’t get up on the wall with them. The chicks blend into the bark, mulch and wall.
Off Center & Not Even 