tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post5697157604493610989..comments2023-12-23T19:04:18.739-05:00Comments on The Crow's Eye: SerpentsJack Crowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07499087036876745723noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-76309913260595999702011-11-19T16:23:58.224-05:002011-11-19T16:23:58.224-05:00As a boy, I ferried a captured garter snake home t...As a boy, I ferried a captured garter snake home to Illinois from Minnesota and kept him in a terrarium with a fitted screen top held down with a rock. He hissed. He struck and tried to bite me. He had babies (and was hastily renamed), six or seven live-borns, slightly smaller than pencils. They died. <br /><br />One day I found the snake limp and exhausted, head under the rim of the screen cover, nose bent downward under the metal lip -- and the jaws offset so that one row of upper teeth pressed into the middle of the lower jaw. It was fine again within hours. <br /><br />About a week later it did finally manage to land a bite, right between my thumb and forefinger. It didn't break skin, but it did hurt, and it packed a surprising amount of force. <br /><br />Not long after that, I took it to some woods along a lake that was the wildest place I could get to on my bike, and let it go.Mark Snoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-17457544969213696042011-11-19T12:51:02.321-05:002011-11-19T12:51:02.321-05:00And I have the same implied fondness for vermin, v...And I have the same implied fondness for vermin, varmints, pests and other agents of anti-lawn, anti-property chaos, Cuneyt.Jack Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07499087036876745723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-24225743639899294622011-11-19T12:47:16.287-05:002011-11-19T12:47:16.287-05:00Justin, Cuneyt -
Metaphors, of course, may infle...Justin, Cuneyt - <br /><br />Metaphors, of course, may inflect meaning, and comprise the bulk of our personal imagery, but they are all the same limited by the rules which bind them to their subjects.<br /><br />The dry and deadening language of theory has the advantage of a somewhat more persistent addiction to the soporific of the myth of truth, and though it compels its users to de-humanize even shitting and farting, its fascinating monomania can reveal what the metaphor only hints at, and coyly.Jack Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07499087036876745723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-36589609193676701762011-11-19T12:34:09.243-05:002011-11-19T12:34:09.243-05:00Jack,
Only in so far as self-awareness allows the ...Jack,<br />Only in so far as self-awareness allows the garter snake to see itself for what it is, its limitations and its role is. <br /><br />Speaking as a garter myself...Justinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02924326177370725150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-58259984340890905902011-11-19T12:03:08.976-05:002011-11-19T12:03:08.976-05:00I really dig what you're saying here, but my p...I really dig what you're saying here, but my personal experience blinds me to any comment about the garter snake (or black racer) versus the vipers; I have often, almost always, lived among those who kill all snakes on sight. Makes my blood boil.<br /><br />I'm sure there's a metaphor there, as well. Sigh. Garter snakes are helpful to any garden, but the groundskeeper in charge is a drunk and he's careless. He's the type who never weeds without pulling up shrubs. He's the type who stomps through flowers to get to the hose. He's the type (and this is a true story) who spreads rat poison outside multiple homes to kill a single, well-behaved mouse who never so much as approached a door.Cüneythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09839492265797382364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-75103861120082552422011-11-19T11:51:42.469-05:002011-11-19T11:51:42.469-05:00I guess I don't watch enough televsion, Randal...I guess I don't watch enough televsion, Randal. I had to google the reference.Jack Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07499087036876745723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-46633308183595002152011-11-19T09:10:45.661-05:002011-11-19T09:10:45.661-05:00Getting ready for Whacking Day?Getting ready for Whacking Day?Randal Graveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08728992897551848531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-37830204225740440292011-11-18T19:56:44.829-05:002011-11-18T19:56:44.829-05:00Justin,
I'm not sure it matters about mind, i...Justin,<br /><br />I'm not sure it matters about mind, in the end.<br /><br />Soma,<br /><br />Rats can be befriended. It's the unfriendly ones who always seem to stumble into snake pits.Jack Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07499087036876745723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-69679504409801559152011-11-18T16:50:39.635-05:002011-11-18T16:50:39.635-05:00My father fears snakes. I tell him not to put out ...My father fears snakes. I tell him not to put out snake away, because they eat rats, and there are always more rats in the woods than there are snakes.<br /><br />The stream running through carries with it cottonmouths all summer long, as well as a few black runners but those aren't worrisome. Of course, seeing a pair mating on the porch was not something I wanted to enjoy with a morning cigarette; a snake boner is grotesque.<br /><br />But in either case, it's good to have snakes around. They have vermin to kill.Somahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10227231934216115954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-3995500784016151732011-11-18T13:19:57.239-05:002011-11-18T13:19:57.239-05:00I don't, but it takes more than mental power t...I don't, but it takes more than mental power to become a viper, and it takes more than raising awareness of itself to ward off the lawnmower.Justinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02924326177370725150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-41027543838537911352011-11-18T11:41:39.556-05:002011-11-18T11:41:39.556-05:00Thunder,
A traveling companion and I believe we w...Thunder,<br /><br />A traveling companion and I believe we were treated to the company of a cottonmouth in Mississippi. But, all we could do is speculate. It could have been a copperhead, or some other variety of ophis I'm too incompetent to identify. Garter snakes, copperheads and timber rattlers, definitely. Thanks in large part to the Scouts.<br /><br />Anon,<br /><br />You would be right. Let it be said, all the same, that there's nothing wrong with pleasure or amateur herpetology. <br /><br />Justin,<br /><br />Mustn't fault the garter snake. Plus, whilst lacking fatal venom, it can still bite. It just has to learn to stay away from lawn mowers.Jack Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07499087036876745723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-30477808758008163722011-11-18T11:25:26.161-05:002011-11-18T11:25:26.161-05:00A common problem for garter snakes is that they so...A common problem for garter snakes is that they sometimes imagine themselves to be vipers or rattlers. Legend has it that garters can actually become vipers or rattlers, so maybe that is the source of their confusion.Justinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02924326177370725150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-77859016580619097082011-11-18T11:23:04.835-05:002011-11-18T11:23:04.835-05:00Something about this series tells me Crow is not e...Something about this series tells me Crow is not extolling the pleasures of amateur herpetology.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9102937856333775840.post-68850056961186722592011-11-18T11:14:12.162-05:002011-11-18T11:14:12.162-05:00I've run across water moccasins and rattlesnak...I've run across water moccasins and rattlesnakes before, but the only copperhead I ever saw was a little baby on a walk with the family when I was a kid.<br /><br />And believe me, it's not like I didn't spend my youth looking for snakes. It's why I joined the Boy Scouts!<br />~ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®©https://www.blogger.com/profile/06252371815131259831noreply@blogger.com