Critters We Left Behind

Having been back in Vermont for over a week, I've been thinking about some of the critters we encountered on our Southwestern trips.  While we have a wood fire going and snow pellets in the air here, it also is nice to take walks with the dog and not worry about poisonous or dangerous things.

We first encountered potential trouble in Louisiana when I was out on some trails hiking with the dog and saw this sign. It sort of got my attention but it was early spring and I figured that probably snakes were still staying warm underground or wherever.  Of course, it was a warm day for January and as I poked through some brush off trail, I was startled to see this cottonmouth coiled up on an old stump.  It had one of these, "And who might you be?" looks if snakes can have expressions.  Penny was off leash and sniffing here and there but I grabbed her before she found our friend.

After taking a couple of iPhone pictures, I made a quiet retreat and stayed on the trail the rest of the walk.



This state park, Lake Fausse Pointe, also gave us our first real exposure to mosquitoes.  Southern mosquitoes are big and nasty and it's not fair to have them around in January.  Mary seems to attract them and we had several bouts later in Texas.  They seem to find any small opening in the Airstream and with a white ceiling, give us a pre-bedtime ritual of swatting them.

Of course, you never know where you'll run into alligators.  It didn't raise our confidence level when one park ranger told Mary, "Ma'am, don't worry about them -- they only go after the old and the slow." Well ....   I tend to worry more about the dog hassling them and keep her on leash in alligator country.  Some of these get pretty big -- here's one we saw at a Louisiana refuge.

We have a few black bears here in Vermont but they are hardly ever about - I've only seen three or four in our woods in ten years of outings.  On the other hand, in Texas I've heard and seen coyotes frequently and also seen many wild pigs and javelinas.  Here's a coyote that crossed right in front of us at a campground at Big Bend.

Javelinas love to browse at feeding stations at Falcon State Park.  They seem skitterish but when they have young ones with them, they reportedly can get ornery.  We just give them a wide birth at any time.

And the worst critters we encountered this trip came at the end when both Penny and I hit infestations of ticks.  Now, we worry some about ticks in New England and Penny is on meds for fleas and ticks but we were out in the brushy woods at Village Creek State Park, north of Beaumont, Texas, and just got whacked.  I was wearing shorts and both of us were covered.  These suckers were hard to remove and we kept finding them.  We moved on to Mississippi and like an idiot, I went out again and apparently brushed by vegetation with more of them and we spent another evening searching and removing them.

I had bought some tick medicine from a vet in Texas.  I normally use Frontline on Penny but she carried something else, saying that it was just as good.  Well, these ticks just laughed at the generic substitute.  Our friends Jason and Kevin picked up some Frontline for Penny and we dosed her in Mississippi and it did the trick.  I just wore long pants and tucked in socks and stayed out of tick areas.  Neither of us seems to have developed any issues from our encounters.

And lastly, while we were at Falcon, a neighbor told me about a scorpion that some folks found dead in the women's bathroom.  He then showed me a live scorpion that he caught underneath a rock down by Falcon Lake.  He was going to bring it to his grandson who reportedly was excited to get it.

The thought of capturing a scorpion to bring back to one of our grandkids never crossed my mind.  I have a good relationship with my daughter and daughters-in-law and want to keep it that way.  We left all the critters behind us.

Big Bend Adventures

As Big Bend State Park visitors know, it’s about 70 miles of desolation from Marathon down to the park headquarters, and then another 20 miles of desert to the Rio Grande Village campground. But what amazing vistas as you head south -- just breathtaking. Photos don’t do the landscape justice. Geological features - incredible formations - give a real sense of the millions of years of history that precedes us.

Yesterday’s high was 96 degrees and we arrived, hot and dusty, and set up. There’s no air conditioning (no power or water) but we were doing fine -- until I learned that I had set up on a site already reserved by someone else. So, it was stow things, hitch up once again, and move about 100 yards up the road to another site. I wasn’t a happy camper and Mary was overheated from the heat and dryness. Great start -- Big Bend.

Once things cooled down, it was a lovely evening. It went down to 44 this morning and we ran the heater for a bit while having morning coffee. I found out that the little store here has WiFi (you can forget AT&T coverage for cell phones) so we could get email and post stuff. Still, with no electricity, battery usage for the computers needs to be monitored as well.

I took a little hike this morning on a short trail and saw a few birds, the Rio Grande, some cool rock formations, the Rio Grande, and Mexico. Above is an early morning shot of the campground and the scenery.

They warned us about wildlife here -- particularly coyotes. Well, as we were leaving this morning to do some sightseeing in the truck, what should wander right in front of us, in the middle of the campground, by Mr. (or Ms.) Coyote. Took the picture through the windshield.


We drove up to the Chisos Basin which is just about impossible to describe. It’s high elevation for down here and has some spectacular mountains and vistas. I’ll get some shots next visit -- we just took a “I’ve Been There” shot at the visitor center.

We have hung out reading this afternoon underneath the trailer’s awning. It’s about 88 degrees but there’s a nice breeze. I had Penny’s leash anchored by my chair leg. I left to fix a couple of seltzer drinks and from inside the trailer heard a bark, a yell from Mary, and a upsetting of the lawn chair. Mr. Coyote (or a sibling) had just crossed our road about 25 feet away and Penny was in attack mode. Fortunately, the leash got caught -- or she got smart -- and I grabbed her and all was well again -- once Mary’s heart rate settled down.

This is a tough place from noon to five or so -- you can see why siestas so popular in the Southwest. After May, things essentially close down here due to the extreme temperatures. However, we saw scenery today that just blows you away. Now, to keep the coyotes, mountain lions, and javelinas where they belong.

P.S. On guidebook we have, in talking how park animals have gotten too used to human foods, said that the crinkling of a potato chip bag opening can draw javelinas. I knew junk food was not good for you.