I can see where Mary was the "Leader of the Pack"...just look how she was the only one with both legs on the handle bars! She was "fearless"! Bless her!
I noticed that too. Do you believe in body language? My mother is the only one with both hands on the wheel. Wonder what that means. Maybe she was the one keeping them from falling down. lol
Monday: The black snake left a present in a shelf in the barn, so it made it through the winter. The skin measures 5' long, but they say the skin is always longer than the actual snake. Head, with contact lenses. I have a feeling it's a she, because it has a no nonsense, get the job done, personality. Think I will recycle the name Sam (Samantha), used for the box turtle. I wonder if giving it a name will jinx it.
Yuck; snake skins are so creepy. Last year I discovered a 5-foot skin hanging out of a weep hole in the bricks above our slab. It creeped me out so badly that my husband spent two days plugging all the weep holes with stainless mesh.
I've thought about this a lot. Fear of snakes is the most common reported phobia. Snakes "startle" me too, when I walk right up on top of them. But after the initial reaction, there is no fear, once I see it's not poisonous. I've never walked up on a poisonous one, yet. I can't think of any other animal that startles me like that. But then, I can't think of any other animal where it's even possible to easily walk right up on it, and not see it ahead of time. ____________________________________ Are We Born Fearing Spiders and Snakes "Snakes have provided a recurrent threat throughout mammalian evolution. Individuals who have been good at identifying and recruiting defense responses to snakes have left more offspring than individuals with less efficient defense systems. " "A study published in 2008 in the journal Cognition, and another in 2014 in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, also point to an inherited fear of spiders and snakes." "If we're born with an innate feeling of stress toward spiders and snakes, that doesn't account for why some people grow up to have a ... fear of these creatures, while others keep them as pets." "Parental reinforcement plays a big part in how much fear grows. ... While a [child] bitten by a snake or spider might develop a strong association between the animals and danger, how a parent reacts to these creatures would also influence their child." ____________________________________ I received zero sympathy as a kid being afraid of things that were harmless, but much explaining of what was dangerous and what was not, and why. I don't think there was any grand parenting plan involved, it's just the way they were. My uncle was terrified of snakes. He ran upon a bed of baby garter snakes one time at our house and took a hoe and chopped them all to bits, while my mother and I watched. I remember her saying what an awful thing to do. His mother (my grandmother) was terrified of snakes. She would run in the house if one was anywhere in the yard. By contrast I have a nuisance fear of deep water. Maybe because my father saw someone drown in the Ohio River when he was a teenager? I had to wear a life vest just sitting on a bank fishing.
When I was a really little girl, my mom would sometimes tell me stories about when she was a little girl, and the most memorable one was probably about the kids all riding to school in a buckboard, and being chased by wild longhorn cattle. The children would hide in the bottom of the wagon and the driver would try to fight off the wild attackers with his bullwhip. When my daughter, Robin , was little, my mom used to tell her the same stories. Robin and I are both terrified of any kind of a cow.......
That's a good story Yvonne. Thanks. One of the guys I worked with bought a herd of young Black Angus steers one spring to help eat down several acres of kudzu, and sell for beef in the fall. Some of us went to watch right after they were unloaded. They looked so sweet. I walked out to them, and they all began walking toward me at once. The mere size and number of them, and probably watching too many cattle stampedes in the movies, scared me. I retreated as slowly as possible. Turned out they were very gentle. Just curious, maybe expecting treats. My girlfriend, OTOH, had a cow (maybe a bull?) who would chase anyone who entered its pasture.
The extension ladder is now out at the farm. The plan is to do all repairs that need it next, and bring it back in town. There is a pretty major leak in the barn roof, but all the water drips down into one of 13 plastic containers in the goat feeder. How lucky is that. The roof is only in the shade after 5pm. It is low, flat, and easy to get to. You just have to remember to tie a rope to the ladder, in case Rusty decides to knock it down while you are up there. It leaked in the same place before, years ago. When I "fixed" it before I was even more clueless, and what I did makes no sense at all now. It couldn't possibly leak at this seam unless there was a hurricane blowing the rain upward. The screws must be coming loose. Late this afternoon, the plan is to replace some of the screws with longer ones, and tar them. Maybe re-tar this seam (why?). I have no confidence this will work but I can't think of anything else to try. I'm putting all this in writing because I have a tendency to just say....eh, I'll do that next time. Hoping this will shame me into at least giving it a good try, and sometimes when I write things down I think of something I didn't think of before.
We had friends who lived on a homestead in bush Alaska. After years in the Bush, they were taken to the parent's home state in Minnesota. The kids were terrified of cattle, having never seen them. They had no fear of moose, black or brown bears (which they viewed as food), or even wolves, but they were scared of cows as they had never seen one prior to travel to Minnesota
Yep metal roofs tend to have roof leaks after a period of time. The screws will rust after being exposed to the elements. Screw it back down and tar or use silicone caulk. You might want to use sheet metal screws also.
I tightened some screws. Found 5 screws near the leak that would just spin in place. Replaced them with much longer roofing screws and they drew down tight. Slathered some caulking stuff for roofs and gutters around. It wasn't pretty. That's all I know to do. I still don't think that's the problem. Just a result of the leaking. We'll see....
Decided to try replacing the blades on the lawn mower, rather than buy a new one. No need to remove the deck. .TThe "experts" said these little ramps wouldn't work because they get in the way, but they worked just fine for removing blades. I don't know what I would do without all my father's old tools and gadgets. The blades were certainly bent---both of them. They have Craftsman blades in stock at Lowes. They are plain ordinary looking blades. I bet they will work better than these ever did. Next time.
I still have my grandfather's tool box and tools. He taught me so much about carpentry and how to fix things. And he taught me how to bait a fish hook and we would fish together. Loved that man!