A New Beginning

Greetings:

There was a Yaakov over at WordPress when I got there several years ago and there is a Yaakov here on BlogSpot - he hasn't blogged since about 2006 but he tied up the name so I just became Yaaakov2 here as well.  Anyway, jco has been hounding me to move over here for some time now and to bring my pubs on the The Shabbos with me.  So, I'm here and no I'm not and yes I will.

Getting on up in years now - probably only have a hundred or two left in me to sound off on everything that no one else will talk about - usually politics, religion or being what G-d made us; and making the best of all three.  I'll try my best to post every Shabbos on something that I find disconcerting in either the world of Judaism, the secular world of everyone else or maybe just chat about the latest Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup that we have each year.

There is one guy who object to all of this but I just figure that he's never had to walk around outside of city streets nor had his cattle (or pets) get bit by those nasty buggers.  Yes, I know that they were here first but they don't own this place.  Neither do I; it's on loan from G-d but I don't bite them and I expect them not to bite me.  But just in case they do get nasty about it (usually they will crawl away if you don't approach too closely) I carry one of my trusty sidearms with me.  I also wear stovepipe boots (that come up just below the knee) that will usually turn the bite since they don't normally strike much above that height.

I first fell in love with Sweetwater, the countryside, not the JayCees nor the town itself, a long time ago - back in the early 60's.  Not that they are bad or anything, but I just don't get into town much any more.  Used to have a good friend named Jesse Owens but I've lost track of him now.  Anyway, out in the country at night, when you look up at G-d's black and never-ending sky, it's like He sprinkled thousands and thousands of diamonds on a velvet blanket and they just shine from deep inside themselves, each one lights up another and then all of the rest and so on.  It just takes your breath away.  And rattlesnakes never see it because they don't look up at night, which is when they are normally out hunting.  They stun their prey and swallow it whole, usually while it is still living.  A pretty good article is published at Desert USA and gives some good advice on the subject.

BTW, they can spot you from 40 feet away if they are interested, but mostly they hit anything from small mice to large rabbits, depending on the size of the snake.  They have ears and can hear you, they can hear your footsteps (and usually go the other way.)  They can detect odors with their nose (usually used only for breathing) or their tongue and even which direction the odor originates.  Nasty little creatures but nowhere near as nasty or dangerous as Sea Snakes.  Anyway, maybe my daddy was right; the only good snake is a dead snake - especially if you can't tell the difference between the good ones (corn snakes, etc.) and the badd'uns.  :-)

Next week:  Something more interesting than snakes - I promise!

SDG
Yaakov
(yeah, I use the same sign-off as jco.)