In case anyone was wondering what our housing accomodations were like, I thought I'd include some pictures of the magnificent viewpoints we 3 girls have everyday. Janice's house is surrounded by farmland, mountains and the Umpqua River. Despite the toll that the sloping terrain takes on Shabbi's walking abilities, the beautiful landscape more than makes up for it...
This is our view from the backyard deck. The mountains in the distance are part of the Cascades, east of Roseburg. The Umpqua River can be seen in the center left. We get loads of birds through here every morning (Spotted Towhees, Juncos and Stellar's Jays are common). Also notice the makeshift fencing near the bottom; those are the barriers Janice put up so Shabbigirl wouldn't go a-tumblin' down the steeply sloped hills.
More of the countryside here in Wilbur, Oregon (~10 miles outside of Roseburg). The windy mountainous road to Janice's house is a little intimidating, as there are steep embankments and high dropoffs with no guardrails. The traffic in the opposite direction often comes flying around corners, so I always try to drive ~30 mph so I have enough time to react to the hairpin turns or careless drivers ahead.
Shabbs and Kiks on the backyard deck. I think Shabbi was disappointed that she'd eaten all her food; Kika was sympathizing...
The girls and I came home to this surprise on Friday evening. Kika had run right up to it, not noticing it. I just happened to glance up to where she was and saw that she was traipsing around next to a snake. I am not at all familiar with either Eastern or Western snakes, so I immediately called her back to me and put her in the car. Art's car was in the driveway, so I started calling his name to have him come outside to identify it for me. He didn't hear me calling, so I went inside and got him and Janice to come out. Janice immediately recognized it as a Kingsnake, which might be aggressive, but is not venomous; in fact, they eat rattlesnakes. She couldn't get enough of it, and even touched it to see how it might respond. It recoiled and got pissy and moved off the walkway down into the yard. I was just glad to know it wasn't poisonous. Like in Michigan (the Massassauga rattler), Oregon only has a few or less poisonous snake species, so there's not much to be concerned about.
This is our view from the backyard deck. The mountains in the distance are part of the Cascades, east of Roseburg. The Umpqua River can be seen in the center left. We get loads of birds through here every morning (Spotted Towhees, Juncos and Stellar's Jays are common). Also notice the makeshift fencing near the bottom; those are the barriers Janice put up so Shabbigirl wouldn't go a-tumblin' down the steeply sloped hills.
More of the countryside here in Wilbur, Oregon (~10 miles outside of Roseburg). The windy mountainous road to Janice's house is a little intimidating, as there are steep embankments and high dropoffs with no guardrails. The traffic in the opposite direction often comes flying around corners, so I always try to drive ~30 mph so I have enough time to react to the hairpin turns or careless drivers ahead.
Shabbs and Kiks on the backyard deck. I think Shabbi was disappointed that she'd eaten all her food; Kika was sympathizing...
The girls and I came home to this surprise on Friday evening. Kika had run right up to it, not noticing it. I just happened to glance up to where she was and saw that she was traipsing around next to a snake. I am not at all familiar with either Eastern or Western snakes, so I immediately called her back to me and put her in the car. Art's car was in the driveway, so I started calling his name to have him come outside to identify it for me. He didn't hear me calling, so I went inside and got him and Janice to come out. Janice immediately recognized it as a Kingsnake, which might be aggressive, but is not venomous; in fact, they eat rattlesnakes. She couldn't get enough of it, and even touched it to see how it might respond. It recoiled and got pissy and moved off the walkway down into the yard. I was just glad to know it wasn't poisonous. Like in Michigan (the Massassauga rattler), Oregon only has a few or less poisonous snake species, so there's not much to be concerned about.
No comments:
Post a Comment