Merry Christmas From The Island
Greetings from the island everyone, hope all of you are doing well and had a wonderful Thanksgiving a few weeks ago. The weather was decent and allowed me to run in and spend the day with family in Seadrift, and of course I brought along plenty of to-go containers to haul back leftovers and Mom’s wonderful dressing. Yum!!
Well Christmas is but a few more days away, again. I swear, the older I become, the faster the holidays seem to rotate around. I don’t think the issue is me getting older, no sir, not at all, it’s that the world is moving faster! Even having slowed to a snail’s pace out here on the island, I still become entangled in the holiday rush and chaos when I’m required to venture in for supplies.
Heaven forbid I have to make a rare trip into Victoria during the holidays, as Navarro Street turns into Satan’s highway during those times. I did run into town last week for our early family Christmas get together at Montana Mike’s, and the traffic wasn’t nearly as bad as it will soon become. It’s been nearly 10 years since I’ve dealt with that traffic on a daily basis, miss it I do not! But hey, it’s Christmas, and that makes the sacrifices worthwhile, especially for the kids.
I’m about ready to start preparing my raised beds for Spring time planting. I know that it may seem early, but I like to have all my organic fertilizers mixed into the planting beds in advance, so that it can completely break down and “become one” with the soil. Of course right after finishing the mixing and tilling, those two cats figure that the soft fresh soil would make the worlds fanciest litter box, and here we go! It’s a good thing they pay their way by catching lots of mice and rats around here.
I’ll tell you one area that those cats are lacking in, and that’s keeping snakes out of the yard. Being this late in the year, it is very unusual to come across a rattlesnake, but that’s exactly what I did a few weeks ago, right on my front porch! Thank goodness I’ve gotten into the habit of ALWAYS using a flashlight at night, otherwise I never would have seen him while walking out to the backyard to turn off the generator. Stretched out on the deck of the porch, exactly 48” long and very thick. Luckily he only slithered a few feet while I ran to get the revolver loaded with snake shot and ended that threat. You just simply never know what dangers lurk, or slither, in the darkness. . it’s always good to help light your way.
Well that’s it from the island for now, everyone take care and have a most wonderful Christmas!
48” Rattlesnake on Clint’s front porch.
