All About Pocket Knives

Ken - I've had Guineas before and they truly are the farmers watchdog.

We have a fairly healthy population of Roadrunners around, they usually take care of these things. But every now and then one slips under the radar and I have to deal with it.

A good friend of ours got bit by a fairly small one last year, $30,000 in anti-venom shots! 6 shots at $5,000 a pop! I'm always thankful when I see them before they see me, but I dang near stepped on 'im that first night.

Ken, that's the 2nd biggest one I've personally seen. From my experience, they average about a foot and a half in these parts. But in this case size doesn't matter, they say the smaller ones are worse.


WB

Here they run a little bigger but not much. Around 24 inches long is about average. I've come real close to stepping on one at least twice that I know of. About 10 years ago I was standing in the back yard about dark one evening, wearing shorts and tennis shoes. My wife came out of the house with a flashlight, shined it at the ground near me and said I needed to stand really still. There was a small copperhead snake about a foot long In the grass between my feet! I looked down, calculated my situation and jumped straight back. The snake slithered away toward the house, got caught in the corner of the house and chimney where I killed it with a shovel.

Here's a picture of a big one my oldest grandson spotted while we were walking along a road on the ranch about dark one evening. It was a big fellow about 30 inches long and as thick as my wrist, one of the biggest I've seen. It wasn't near the house so we let it go.

Ken

One of our sisters-in-law got bit on the hand by a copperhead earlier this year. She lives in Blairsville, GA, she was weeding a flowerbed. Didn't have to have the anti-venom but was treated in a hyperbaric chamber. Her hand and forearm were really swollen but she soon recovered.
Treefarmer

An unretouched photo of an apocalyptic sky over Moscow.

Any one remember the snake story played on the radio around, late 1960's. Where a band went to a church and had to run 5 miles of extension cords? YouTube maybe?

Is that picture real QS? That is amazing. Moscow as in Russia?

mrwatch wrote:Any one remember the snake story played on the radio around, late 1960's. Where a band went to a church and had to run 5 miles of extension cords? YouTube maybe?

Look up wendy Bagwell the rattlesnake song will probably get it, I've got it around here somewhere on a CD. Him and old Geraldine didn't care much for them snakehandlers.

Steve, yes apparently legitimate and taken in good old Russia. If I ever saw a sky like that...well, I think I'd start looking for a cave.

Antietum Battlefield
1. Burnside Bridge.. That tree on the left was there during the battle
2. Dunkard Church
3. Bloody Lane
4. Awesome bronze work in this Monument

jmh, as a Civil War buff I'd appreciate knowing if your photo of Burnside's bridge was taken from the Union or Confederate side.

The "Wrong" side!!!! Confederate... John

Great pictures jmh, well composed and great sitting. Clean and sterile now but bloody in its day. Thanks for the pictures and hope no one ever takes those places down.

Thanks guys!!

Garry.. Me/wife too.. Did Antietam. Monocacy, Harpers Ferry and Gettysburg Battlefields last week.. What an AWESOME trip we had.. John

Sounds like a great trip John. As you visit the sites, has seeing them offered any insights or revelations that you did not realize before?

Garry.. When I walked on the Antietum Battlefield it was 92deg and humid as all get out that day.. I had goose bumps and chills.. Same at Gettysburg also.. You get a whole nother understanding of what those soldiers went thru.. The closeness of some of the Battles and how battling for the high places was so important.. John

Quick Steel wrote:An unretouched photo...

Yeah... Metro 2033

Quick Steel wrote:Steve, yes apparently legitimate and taken in good old Russia. If I ever saw a sky like that...well, I think I'd start looking for a cave.

....or......"put the chairs in the wagon, grandpa"!!!........ ...............

I hate to tell y'all this, but that "unretouched" photo of Moscow has been making the rounds on the internet for a long time. The consensus of the hive mind is that it is a composite of several unrelated pictures, and that there are many tells if you know what to look for. A couple of the big ones are the inconsistent lighting of the clouds that could only be made from multiple suns being in the sky, and the cables that simply stop in mid air.

jmh58 wrote:Thanks guys!!

Garry.. Me/wife too.. Did Antietam. Monocacy, Harpers Ferry and Gettysburg Battlefields last week.. What an AWESOME trip we had.. John

Wow - that is great you visited all those sites John and thanks for posting those photos ... I just read all 8 Shaara books on the Civil War plus the Silver Fox about Robert E Lee ... When I was quite young I went to Gettysburg but my view of it now would be so much different... I have never visited the others that yu noted on your trip John... At Gettyburg did you see Little and Big Round Top, Devils Den etc?? I think it was those strategic positions which gave the Union the advantage from my understanding... When you read about Gettyburg the weather was also very hot, humid and lots of rain - sort of like this summer and as you described the weather there on your visit ... May need to do a road trip down to those those sites one of these years....

Jonh and QS too as you mentioned you are a Civil War buff - Perhaps you already know this but the Library of Congress archives available online has a tremendous collection of Civil War photos from Matthew Brady and I believe a few other photographers (though Brady no doubt is the majority) - I can spend all day looking at them - so many interesting details in many of the photos...

I should say despite my interest in learning and reading more about the Civil War that I truly believe it was a very sad part of American history that truly split this country at that time though I understand the reasons... To think that 750,000 soldiers died in that war is mind boggling to me... it is also of interest that many of the Officers of both the Union and Confederate armies were actually friends who attended West Point together...

Some pics of DD.. The last pic is the Slaughter Pit beside DD..

John, thank you so much for showing your photos. Appreciate it.

You are welcome Garry!!!

Pics 6&7.. Looking from DD to Little Round Top.. Kinda neat.. John

Amen to what QS said John, I have enjoyed your pictures immensely.

I've enjoyed the photos also and I should have some of the same area around here somewhere. I've had the pleasure of visiting several of the battle fields and it gives me the shivers each time as I think about what took place . Thanks for sharing