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mikecat adjuster

Beach Fanatic
Oct 18, 2007
635
293
Seagrove.
www.myspaceherspace.com
Mike, I love your pics, but do you have a death wish??? I love the colors of the rattlesnake, unless you have a zoom, your to close!!!:D

I don't really think I'm too close. You have to remember, I have a digital and I reach down and take the shot rather than having to look through the viewfinder with my face nearer (with my 35 mm) I suppose if they strike they could get my fingers that surround the digital camera. But I can kinda tell when they are about to strike. Well, the first pygmy that I found did surprise me, but he came up a few inches short, thankfully. Now I think I know a little more about their temperment and how they position themselves before they're about to strike.

If I come across an Eastern I will use the zoom a little, since approximately 40% of their biting victims, if fully 'venomated', die. I don't know how the statisticians figure out which ones are fully injected, but I've read that in several places.

The snakes actually don't have all that good of range, and at 40, I'm still pretty quick :D
 

mikecat adjuster

Beach Fanatic
Oct 18, 2007
635
293
Seagrove.
www.myspaceherspace.com
Mike...I like it so much better when you romance nature rather than women. :D

Oh, no. Wait till you see those pictures :funn:

Just teasing. Actually, so do I. I have always preferred being out in nature and observing its gifts than most anything. Yesterday as I walked in the woods across from Deer Lake SP, and as the wind rustled through the trees and shrubbery, I stopped and listened. It was as if I was being placed in another time, when my survival necessitated an intimate knowledge of the woods.

The colors struck me. The greens were varied and the shadows that existed between them whispered to me. I heard cracks on the forest floor and wondered what was. I wondered if it were an armidillo who nosed itself along the ground, looking for something beneath the resting leaves, clumisly searching with no idea that I was present. I wondered if it was a coyote, oblivious to me as the wind helped to conceal my scent and sound. I wondered if it were a gopher tortoise, trudging along, or a big Eastern Diamondback pulling its massive weight over impediments.

Yet I saw nothing but shadows. Nothing but hope. Perhaps it was only the wind that focused my eyes into the space where I could not see. But as I stood still, my only movement the slighest of breath, I felt myself dissolve into the surroundings. I lost all feeling of self and I was one with everything.

For a moment my soul rested among the pine that swayed in the breeze. I looked to the sky and back down to the forest. Most everything was rooted to the ground. I knew I would be leaving soon, back to the walls and cabinets and fridge and television. But these trees would be there until they cracked and spit fire and decended to lay. Their final place, to rest and decay and replenish.

And I was witness.
 

Matt J

SWGB
May 9, 2007
24,646
9,496
I don't really think I'm too close. You have to remember, I have a digital and I reach down and take the shot rather than having to look through the viewfinder with my face nearer (with my 35 mm) I suppose if they strike they could get my fingers that surround the digital camera. But I can kinda tell when they are about to strike. Well, the first pygmy that I found did surprise me, but he came up a few inches short, thankfully. Now I think I know a little more about their temperment and how they position themselves before they're about to strike.

If I come across an Eastern I will use the zoom a little, since approximately 40% of their biting victims, if fully 'venomated', die. I don't know how the statisticians figure out which ones are fully injected, but I've read that in several places.

The snakes actually don't have all that good of range, and at 40, I'm still pretty quick :D

Blood tests at the autopsy (sp?).
 

ASH

Beach Fanatic
Feb 4, 2008
2,156
443
Roosevelt, MN
Holy Cats Mikecatadjuster, nice writing!
I kept expecting to read how you were in mid-air between snake fangs and that tree branch about to make contact with the top of your head during your "conscience" moment and we would all laugh like mad.

Riveting....really. Been there, done that. literally.

I have pics to prove it when I was on the trail way up by Canada stalking an owl that had recently alighted a fresh blanket of snow to remove a mouse from the foodchain. (snap) Not a sound during the entire event. I slowly crept up on the owl, now perched on a dead limb, which had just swallowed the mouse whole and was captivated at how it eyed me (snap) as perhaps I could be next....not a care in the world. (snap...snap) Closer...(snap) and then suddenly it spread its wings (snap) and in an instant, I again was the only one on that trail, with only the crunch of fresh fallen snow underfoot as company.

Maybe a good thing that everyone doesn't understand the draw of being alone in nature.....or we never would be.
 

mikecat adjuster

Beach Fanatic
Oct 18, 2007
635
293
Seagrove.
www.myspaceherspace.com
Good point Ash, that in a way its better that more people don't feel the way we apparently do about nature, otherwise the outdoors might resemble yet another theme park. In fact, when I went to Yellowstone, in a few areas, I felt that way. There were a few features, if I'd encountered them by myself, walking upon it unexpectantly, would have been mind blowing. But the fact that it was partitioned off and seemingly had a l stadium of onlookers made it seem as if it were not natural at all. It made the entirety of it seem man-made.

Yesterday I went into some deep, deep stuff and was caught in the heavy rain. I was actually lost for a while, having followed one 'game trail' after another. I had to walk through some thick brush, no trail at all, before I found my way. I came out on 30-A in a totally different spot in the pouring rain and know passers-by in vehicles had to wonder. But as my shirt and pants clung to my wet body and as I opened my mouth to take in fluids from he sky, I knew why I was there.

And Ash, thanks for the compliment on my writing. It would be great to write a book based deep in nature. In fact, I'd started one a while back and actually wrote another that I didn't publish that had a lot of scenes set in nature. Anyway, thanks for communicating that to me. One thing that never goes out of style, a kind compliment.
 

Landlocked

Beach Fanatic
May 16, 2005
3,216
24
47
Alabama

jd

Beach Lover
Jun 11, 2008
96
6
Atlanta
Oh, no. Wait till you see those pictures :funn:

Just teasing. Actually, so do I. I have always preferred being out in nature and observing its gifts than most anything. Yesterday as I walked in the woods across from Deer Lake SP, and as the wind rustled through the trees and shrubbery, I stopped and listened. It was as if I was being placed in another time, when my survival necessitated an intimate knowledge of the woods.

The colors struck me. The greens were varied and the shadows that existed between them whispered to me. I heard cracks on the forest floor and wondered what was. I wondered if it were an armidillo who nosed itself along the ground, looking for something beneath the resting leaves, clumisly searching with no idea that I was present. I wondered if it was a coyote, oblivious to me as the wind helped to conceal my scent and sound. I wondered if it were a gopher tortoise, trudging along, or a big Eastern Diamondback pulling its massive weight over impediments.

Yet I saw nothing but shadows. Nothing but hope. Perhaps it was only the wind that focused my eyes into the space where I could not see. But as I stood still, my only movement the slighest of breath, I felt myself dissolve into the surroundings. I lost all feeling of self and I was one with everything.

For a moment my soul rested among the pine that swayed in the breeze. I looked to the sky and back down to the forest. Most everything was rooted to the ground. I knew I would be leaving soon, back to the walls and cabinets and fridge and television. But these trees would be there until they cracked and spit fire and decended to lay. Their final place, to rest and decay and replenish.

And I was witness.


Ok, mikecatadjuster, if you were in my Language Arts class, I'd have to give you an A+ for this!! (Of course, no 4th grader would be writing like this!)

I just have one question for you....how do you adjust cats!!!???? :blush::D:blush:
 

jd

Beach Lover
Jun 11, 2008
96
6
Atlanta
Well, shoot.....I was hoping to learn all about cat adjusting since most of 'em I've run across need all kinds of adjustments.....especially of the attitude!!! ;-)
 
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