June a month of Festivals

Mountain Laurel getting ready to bloom. 

Orange Salamander crossing road.

So June is the month for festivals; the Rattlesnake festival this coming weekend and the Mountain Laurel festival the weekend of the 25th. I took a 2 mile walk today up the mountain to the pipeline and noticed the Mountain Laurel will be opening soon and should be in full bloom for the festival. The temperature took a bit of a dive from the 80's to the 50's making the walk up hill a lot more enjoyable.

During the hike, the dogs and I saw one of the colorful, orange salamander's crossing the road. I saw several deer with fawns over the last couple days and turkey now that the hunting is done all the animals seem to know and show up a bit more.

I spent a few days at camp cutting willows down in the creek, which seem to grow as fast as I cut them. I also got to replace my water heater. A job thanks to its location in the basement which is made harder by the fact that I had to maneuver a 148 lb heater through a closet and down a trap door. The new ones have a plastic control valve that you have to make sure not to bang against anything or you will have a broken water heater. When it was all said and done I decided someone else will lift then next one down the hole in 10 to 14 years, cause if I try this in my 70's the water heater will probably be my headstone. 

Even with all the work, I dreaded coming back to Wellsboro tonight and returning to work tomorrow. The woods always calls my name. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Rhododendrons and Rattlesnakes

House in Gaines

Wellsboro

Wellsboro

Wellsboro

Wellsboro

Morris Rattlesnake Box

Rattlesnake head

Rattlesnake head from top of tube

Lee's annual Pet a Rattlesnake

This is a little bit of a catch up post for the last couple weeks. The Rhododendrons are so pretty around this area, I had to capture some of them for you. Our acid soil makes them bigger than I see anywhere else some as high as the first story on a house. The beautiful old Victorian houses in Wellsboro look picture card perfect surrounding by the blooming bushes. Their wilder cousins the Mountain Laurel is starting to bud and I am guessing will open up and be nice for the Laurel fest this coming weekend.

This weekend is of course the rattlesnake festival in Morris. We go every year so we can eat things off our normal diet and see the snakes. Today the weather was a bit on the cool side so their were only a few snakes by 2 pm when we were there.  But it was enough for Lee to get in her annual petting of a rattlesnake. What you can't see in the picture is "Speck", the Chihuahua was in her other hand and not at all impressed by the large buzzing reptile. The view from the top of the tube show the head, the eyes are film covered because this yellow timber rattler was in the process of shedding its skin.

The contest is catch and release at the spot they were captured. The only indignity the snakes face is being micro-chipped and petted by a hundred people. They often capture the same snake again in following years and by weighing them and measuring them it lets them track how much they have grown. Rattlesnakes are protected in this area and not allowed to be killed. All the snake catchers must get a permit from Fish and Game to catch rattlesnakes for the festival. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Morris Rattlesnake Festival

Morris, Pa  Black Timber Rattler

Here is a picture and video from the Morris Rattlesnake Festival. All snakes are caught and released after being microchiped, weighed and measured. Prizes are awarded for longest Black Rattler, Yellow Rattler and overall longest. This guy was about 48" long, usually the winner is over 50". There are lots of vendors at this event all sorts of bad things to eat. Also they have a softball tournament going the same day. All money raised goes to the Morris Township Volunteer Fire Department. From the looks of things they should do well this weekend. We always go to eat bad and buy the latest Rattlesnake T-Shirt. 

Snaggle Nose lives

Just got an email from a camp owner who has spotted "Snaggle Nose", the bear who about three years ago lost half his face in a bad fight. He is now closing on 600lbs. This big guy looks very mean with his permanent snarl look from his injury. So keep your camera ready and get a 2012 picture of him if you can and send it to me.
The mountain laurel is blooming great on Cedar Mountain and is quite beautiful. Looks like it may warm up for the Rattlesnake Festival in Morris, which is good news for the snake hunters. Most of the snakes have been hiding during the cold spell we have had last week and the warm sun will bring them out to warm up. I will be getting some pictures to share. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Morris Rattlesnake Festival

The 2011 Morris Rattlesnake festival was in full swing this weekend. It is always a treat for young and old to see a snake close up and touch it if they would like. I don't know what the longest snake brought in was at this point of the contest. They have categories for the longest yellow timber rattler and the longest black timber rattler. All snakes must be returned to the point they were captured by the hunters after they are released from judging.
People are still cleaning up from the memorial weekend storms and finding out what their insurance covers and what it does not. It is never nice to find out your coverage don't count during
tornadoes.
I noticed the Mountain Laurel is beginning to bloom on top Cedar Mountain. The Mountain Laurel festival events run in Wellsboro all next week and weekend. The blooming should be good for a couple weeks barring we don't have any more high wind storms.
The granddaughter went home Thursday so I will get back to work a bit more seriously now and try to make up for lost time due to weather and visitors. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Rattlesnake Roundup

This weekend was the 55th Rattlesnake roundup in Morris, Pa. We went on Saturday and it was hot 90 degrees and humid. I am sure the snakes weren't liking the weather anymore than the people.
The largest snake they had caught was 53" and is the one in the video with Lee. She said it was very heavy when the guy let some of the weight into her hand.
The snakes are micro-chipped and released back were they were caught since they are protected. The Timber rattles for the most part are one of the most docile of the rattlesnakes, generally trying to stay away from people.
The event last two days and they give prizes out for the biggest yellow and the biggest black timber rattler as well as the biggest snake.
The kids at the event always get a kick out of seeing the snakes. People who are afraid of the snakes usually stay away. I know my daughter wouldn't go within a hundred miles of any snake.
Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Morris Rattlesnake Roundup

Snakes, snakes, snakes, softball, food, vendors. That pretty much sums up the rattlesnake roundup. I almost was eaten by a rather large snake at the beginning of the day. Fortunately it was made out of wood and easily released my arm. Every year people vie to bring in the largest timber rattler in the area. This year for the first time the contest was limited to male snakes over 42 inches long. Rattlesnakes are protected in this area, but I will have to say it isn't hard to find one especially in July and August crossing the road to get to a cool creek bed.

The snakes are all micro chipped, weighed and measured. There has been many snakes caught in previous years recaptured. The
snake catchers must return the snakes to the area they have been caught from and much care is taken to keep the snakes healthy during their short capture. Lee has threatened every year she will enter the contest...maybe next year. You can see her hands touching the snake in the second picture near the rattle. The handlers take the snake around the crowd with a plastic tube over their heads to keep them from striking anyone. Young and old look, touch and feel the snakes up close. Of course there are many who stay far back from any contact with the snakes.

While we were there two snakes were brought in a yellow and a black timber rattler. The yellow measured around 50" and was very impressive. It takes four guys to hold the snake straight enough to measure.

Then the black came out and measured 53" and weighed 5 lbs. The judges commented that this was a trophy sized snake by any standards. The black snake seemed particularly fat as well as long. He also was quite shiny having just shed before his capture. The snake experts explained that the snakes are born with a bud for the rattler every time they shed they get another link added to their rattle. They can shed many times a year if they are growing fast. This makes it more difficult to tell their age by the rattle links. Also if the bud is broken the length of the rattle will stop growing.

You will notice they have a double fence between the crowd and the snake in case one gets a little frisky. They said the snakes prefer a temperature between 65 and 75 so they must have been happy today with on and off showers the temperatures stayed within those ranges. My only wish was this snake handler had wore a shirt that didn't match the color of the snake so closely as it was difficult at times to tell what was snake and what was shirt.

I don't know the longest snake yet as the contest won't be over until Sunday, but I wouldn't be surprised if the 53" black rattler we saw takes it. Mountain girl, Paula, logging off.