Artistic Arrangement

[NVcurmudgeon]

The walls of my reloading room are covered with an eclectic gathering of artwork. There is a buffalo horn that my grandfather found on the Kansas prairie in 1889, a picture of John Wayne whth the caption, "now just why in Hell do I have to hit 'one' for English?" several dead critters, etc. Last week my wife and I were coming back from a walk when we found a small, well squished, rattlesnake on the road in front of our house. It was a perfect snake for adding to the shop collection. It is small, flat, dried out, and died in a perfect sidewinder pose. I managed to scrape it up with my knife and keep it in one piece. It now is in a small picture frame filling a previously empty spot on the wall. I was admiring it when I noticed what it was hanging near. There was a cartoon of a cat, saying Arrrrgh! (one of my favorite expressions.) Next came a Hillary doll dog toy. Finally, the snake. The placement of these three pieces of art suggested a story to me.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I think I'd be hanging the snake in the shed for awhile, just to make sure it ain't gonna smell, cause there's nothing as nasty as dead snake. Sounds like an interesting wall though.

[carpetman]

Snakeskins can be soaked for about 3 days in a mixture of one cup 20 Mule Team Borax to a gallon of water to prevent stinking. Be sure to rinse real real good when you remove from the mixture.

[scrapcan]

find a better example kill it and then skin and stretch the hide on a piece of old barnwood. Makes for a better looking snake skin. If you like playing with them (I don't) you can leave the head on and mount with the stretched skin. I lost all desire to do this after skinning a female prairie rattler that had some young inside. You can kill them with a good blat of propane (unlit, but lit works too). If you think you need to go lokking for them you can use a can of gas with a T with one hose to the gas can, one that you can blow in, and one you lay where you might think the snakes would be. Drop the end and blow the funes under rock, behind bush, under work bench, etc... Be prepared they may come form interesting directions and sometimes with a bad attitude.

But back to decor, you did not mention your best ever targets pasted to the wall. Well I guess you did mention the mounts.

You have to cover the walls somehow or you will get the idea you need to wash or paint them more often than you really want to.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Thanks for the recipes, but this snake will need no treatment. It was squished like Tom in a Tom and Jerry cartoon after encountering a steamroller, then thoroughly sun dried.

[Jim]

Ya gotta love ol' Mick! Thanks for the belly laugh, Mick! Don't know why, it just got me tickled.

[Four Fingers of Death]

We got more than our fair share of snakes in Australia. If you see one on the road, you are best off not running over it. If you can't avoid it, it pays to check it out quickly if you can't see it one the road behind you. They can get caught up underneath and start steenking to high heaven! or maybe slide off and bite you on the laig! Best to get it sorted straight away, don't want to forget and get bitten by a really pissed snake later.

[DLCTEX]

I ran over a rattlesnake one night on a two lane road. The snake stretched from the mid-stripe to the shoulder of the road and felt like a log as I bumped over it. When I got turned around, it was gone. Upon reaching home and turning out the lights, I began having thoughts of snakes hung up under the truck and still alive. It was a strong leap of faith to step out in the pitch dark and walk to the house with chills running up my back! Dale

[NVcurmudgeon]

It's a good idea in snake country to always look under your car before you get too close. I've never seen it yet, but others have told me about fishing along a stream where shade is scarce, and coming back to find old Buzzy taking a nap under the car.

[chevyiron420]

i got one for ya. i drug out my snapper mower a few weeks back, gas er up check the oil, look over, and go to cuttin grass. well mr. buzz tail was in the belt case on top of the mower deck. fortunetly he got his top knot caught up in the belts. i bet he was in there for 15 minutes before it slung him out. i still got the willies!-phil

[longhorn]

Definitely not a rural legend, Curmudgeon-I used to think my father was pulling a snipe hunt deal on me when he'd squat down a few feet away from the truck when we returned to it parked somewhere out on one of the clan's ranches; not so, as I discovered one hot afternoon while swinging open a pickup door and glancing down to see what rattled when it fell out. Olympic quality standing backwards broadjump ensued. It's not that I'm afraid of snakes, exactly-I just don't like surprises. Nor does he (my father). I watched him jump at least 3 foot straight into the air one afternoon and fire 3 rounds from his old Sweet 16 before his feet touched earth. The snake was devastated and I damn near choked to death on my sandwich while laughing (a real cartoon moment.) I don't think Dad was much amused, though.

[carpetman]

chevyiron420---I have friend that was fixing flat on his riding mower. He thought he saw something--needs glasses but too vain to get them--and decided he didnt see anything. A few minutes later a rattlesnake that was in the mower bit him. He got an infection in his thumb from it and they had to remove a section of his thumb.