The Trouble with Outside

Lizard disturbed from the shoe rack.

Outside is not such an issue in Puget Sound. Most of the year you avoid it. And when you do venture outside, what you encounter in the way of fauna and flora is pretty benign.

Here in the Sonora Desert, there are lots of critters that can be or appear a little unpleasant. Lizards, snakes, coyotes and javalina are benign to humans, unless you provoke them. One needs to pay attention.

I almost stepped on a rattlesnake on one hike in the hills around here. Fortunately, hiking time here is early in the morning when it's still cool. And rattlesnakes are still lethargic. The one I almost stepped on never bothered to stir. But boy, were my eyes ever keenly looking ahead after that.

The rattler I almost stepped on.

So the trouble here with outside the house is that little animals live outside, and most like the shade and protection of anything you put outside. You have to bear in mind what might crawl under or behind. Take the little shoe rack I made for the front door. Sure enough, Mr. Lizard, some eight inches of him (her?) thinks that's a wonderful place to hang out and wait for bugs, reptilian lunch. Reach in for my flip-flops and out scampers Mr. Lizard. Would a slimy, slow moving slug be worse?

Medium sized king snake in our backyard, about four or
five feet long. "Nice snakey, snakey."
We had a much larger king snake living by our goldfish pond.

Some guests, while a little frightening, are actually honored guests around our home. Chief among them is any king snake. They don't bother people. They like to eat rattlers even longer than themselves. So where there is a king snake, a rattler will not want to be. Now that's okay.