Obstructions

On Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:48:12 -0600, wrote:

[snip]

A true obstruction, the Michelin wire from the 22nd flat tire this
year:
http://i28.tinypic.com/14vmxbr.jpg

A larger but still wire-shaped obstruction:
http://i32.tinypic.com/200tf0y.jpg

A fish-eating obstruction fighting a bad headwind:
http://i32.tinypic.com/2dbl15z.jpg
http://i25.tinypic.com/8yw2tz.jpg
http://i32.tinypic.com/5yvs00.jpg
http://i27.tinypic.com/9tzu6f.jpg

A pair of prairie obstructions, hoping that the late afternoon sun
will hide them:
http://i25.tinypic.com/50i6ja.jpg

It worries me that I noticed these two obstructions:
http://i25.tinypic.com/5f4zti.jpg

It's not as if they were sticking out in plain sight, like the leading
half of this obstruction:
http://i25.tinypic.com/cmbkm.jpg

Coiled up, tip of bare tail under chin:
http://i31.tinypic.com/70x1td.jpg

Four prairie obstructions:
http://i30.tinypic.com/4sgq6s.jpg

Two more prairie obstructions down in a gully, the fools! What do they
think they are, deer?
http://i30.tinypic.com/v79npx.jpg

Three equally out-of-place cranberry-and-stuffing obstructions amidst
the cactus:
http://i29.tinypic.com/2ylwcpd.jpg

Obstruction fleeing the Gulf, about to land:
http://i32.tinypic.com/k53b79.jpg

Eight more Gulf refugees:
http://i25.tinypic.com/2iaphz8.jpg

A familiar obstruction in an unfamiliar strung-out pose, limp and
hoping that I'll go away if it doesn't move:
http://i27.tinypic.com/yigjk.jpg

When lying still doesn't work, try thrashing and sticking your tongue
out:
http://i32.tinypic.com/123vbqg.jpg

Okay, coil up and buzz, but keep sticking your tongue out:
http://tinypic.com/r/rw6z9u/3

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

On 7/19/10 1:04 AM, wrote:
Okay, coil up and buzz, but keep sticking your tongue out:
http://tinypic.com/r/rw6z9u/3


Nice crotalus pics.

On Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:48:12 -0600, wrote:

[snip]

An early trick-or-treater, enjoying the Indian Summer:
http://i53.tinypic.com/2le59at.jpg

More early trick-or-treaters, also enjoying the fine weather:
http://i54.tinypic.com/riufq1.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/302oytx.jpg

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

On Oct 31, 6:26 pm, wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:48:12 -0600, wrote:

[snip]

An early trick-or-treater, enjoying the Indian Summer:
http://i53.tinypic.com/2le59at.jpg

More early trick-or-treaters, also enjoying the fine weather:
http://i54.tinypic.com/riufq1.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/302oytx.jpg

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Hi Carl,

It was 57 degrees F tonight - no rain. We got wiped out of like $45
worth of candy, were down to peanut butter crackers, a few tootsie
rolls, cupcakes, and dried mango.

Thanks for the sunny pics!

Regards,
Dan

On 10/31/2010 8:26 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:48:12 -0600, wrote:

[snip]

An early trick-or-treater, enjoying the Indian Summer:
http://i53.tinypic.com/2le59at.jpg

More early trick-or-treaters, also enjoying the fine weather:
http://i54.tinypic.com/riufq1.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/302oytx.jpg

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

I have no irrational fear of snakes* but (since my teenage years) I
won't pick up garter or water snakes--too stinky.

Pairie kingsnakes are the most-entertaining I commonly see--big enough
to be impressive (4ft) and pretty mild-mannered.
http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslin...kingsnake.html

The rest are generally harder to find, quicker to escape, pugnacious
and/or venomous.
~

On Nov 2, 8:07*am, DougC wrote:


I have no irrational fear of snakes* but (since my teenage years) I
won't pick up garter or water snakes--too stinky.

A couple decades ago, we (including my 7-year-old daughter) were
cycling on the gravel road through our local forest preserve when a
small snake went snaking across the road just in front of me, toward
the grass at the edge. I wanted my daughter to see it, so as I called
her to come back, I grabbed it by its tail just as its head was into
the grass, and pulled it back out.

It whipped around lightning quick and bit me on the finger! I dropped
it on the road, and it curled up into a classic, fierce snake coil,
just like a cobra, with its mouth open, hissing at me. I looked down
at my finger. Blood was oozing out of two spots, side by side.
Snakebite.

What to do? I decided to catch it to identify it. But the snake book
was back home, about a mile away. So I rode slowly, hoping it was
just a garter snake, and hoping the venom (if I were wrong) wouldn't
move very fast.

Yep, garter snake. I returned him to the woods. But the memory of
that coiled snake hissing at me is still kind of exciting.

- Frank Krygowski

On Tue, 2 Nov 2010 15:42:42 -0700 (PDT), Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On Nov 2, 8:07*am, DougC wrote:


I have no irrational fear of snakes* but (since my teenage years) I
won't pick up garter or water snakes--too stinky.

A couple decades ago, we (including my 7-year-old daughter) were
cycling on the gravel road through our local forest preserve when a
small snake went snaking across the road just in front of me, toward
the grass at the edge. I wanted my daughter to see it, so as I called
her to come back, I grabbed it by its tail just as its head was into
the grass, and pulled it back out.

It whipped around lightning quick and bit me on the finger! I dropped
it on the road, and it curled up into a classic, fierce snake coil,
just like a cobra, with its mouth open, hissing at me. I looked down
at my finger. Blood was oozing out of two spots, side by side.
Snakebite.

What to do? I decided to catch it to identify it. But the snake book
was back home, about a mile away. So I rode slowly, hoping it was
just a garter snake, and hoping the venom (if I were wrong) wouldn't
move very fast.

Yep, garter snake. I returned him to the woods. But the memory of
that coiled snake hissing at me is still kind of exciting.

- Frank Krygowski


Many years ago I was sitting in a house in North Thailand and saw a
snake swim down the small canal near the house. I asked my wife "what
kind of snake is that", and she replied with the Thai name for the
snake. I then asked, "does it bite", and she looked at me as though I
had lost my mind. "All snakes bite", she told me.

Not universally true but not a bad hypotheses in practice :-)
Cheers,

John D. Slocomb
(jdslocombatgmail)

On Nov 2, 8:34*pm, J. D. Slocomb wrote:


Many years ago I was sitting in a house in North Thailand and saw a
snake swim down the small canal near the house. I asked my wife "what
kind of snake is that", and *she replied with the Thai name for the
snake. I then asked, "does it bite", and she looked at me as though I
had lost my mind. "All snakes bite", she told me.

Not universally true but not a bad hypotheses in practice :-)

OK, a fresh snake story, told by our Warm Showers guest of last week.

This young guy had spent considerable time biking in India, and was
thinking of heading back over there. So we talked about India.

He talked of staying at an extremely cheap guest house in India, and
seeing a large, scary looking snake going down the wall. He nervously
asked his hostess "Is it dangerous?" She said "No, no! Not dangerous!
Not dangerous! Don't worry!"

Then the woman's daughter came in, saw the snake, grabbed something
and began furiously beating the snake to death.

The woman then said "Only dangerous if it bites."

- Frank Krygowski

On Mon, 15 Nov 2010 18:06:50 -0800 (PST), Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On Nov 2, 8:34*pm, J. D. Slocomb wrote:


Many years ago I was sitting in a house in North Thailand and saw a
snake swim down the small canal near the house. I asked my wife "what
kind of snake is that", and *she replied with the Thai name for the
snake. I then asked, "does it bite", and she looked at me as though I
had lost my mind. "All snakes bite", she told me.

Not universally true but not a bad hypotheses in practice :-)

OK, a fresh snake story, told by our Warm Showers guest of last week.

This young guy had spent considerable time biking in India, and was
thinking of heading back over there. So we talked about India.

He talked of staying at an extremely cheap guest house in India, and
seeing a large, scary looking snake going down the wall. He nervously
asked his hostess "Is it dangerous?" She said "No, no! Not dangerous!
Not dangerous! Don't worry!"

Then the woman's daughter came in, saw the snake, grabbed something
and began furiously beating the snake to death.

The woman then said "Only dangerous if it bites."

- Frank Krygowski

Dear Frank,

Cycling is dangerous! Read on and pity the fate of a fellow who lost
his protective headgear and thereby suffered a foot injury!

***

A Mr. Von Boeckman, of Austin, Tex., who has just [1893] completed a
wheel trip from his home to Chicago and return, in speaking of his
ride tells the following as an example of the pleasures of this sort
of cycling:

"The only accident that befell me was about fifty miles the other side
of Texarkana, when I was bitten on the instep of my right foot by a
moccasin [the western cottonmouth or water moccasin]."

"In passing over a trestle I lost my cap. I crawled under a short
bridge to look for it. It was marshy under there and grown over with
rank weeds. As I stooped down to pick up my cap I felt something sting
my instep, but I did not know it was a snake bite until after I got
out on the bank."

"I took my pocket-knife and cut out the place, allowing it to bleed
freely, after which I applied some liniment that I happened to have,
and, aside from a little swelling, it did not trouble me much."

"The people through there seemed to think nothing of a snakebite. I
met an old farmer and he said be had been bitten by moccasins and that
I need not be uneasy on account of the bite I had."

"You could see those big, ugly moccasins lying about all over the
country, between the [railroad] ties, in fence corners and on logs,
sunning themselves like alligators in the far South."

http://la84foundation.org/SportsLibr.../SL2126008.pdf

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

On Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:48:12 -0600, wrote:

A few December obstructions . . .

Full-face:
http://i51.tinypic.com/5d5e0g.jpg

Profile:
http://i52.tinypic.com/sv5n4o.jpg

Third triplet hidden by bush:
http://i55.tinypic.com/vqo8lg.jpg

Small red urban obstruction:
http://i55.tinypic.com/2n0qwcm.jpg

In context:
http://i56.tinypic.com/nn6sdw.jpg

Larger rural obstruction:
http://i53.tinypic.com/14a9zb8.jpg

In context:
http://i54.tinypic.com/2e1yqms.jpg

First obstruction obstructing birdhouse:
http://i55.tinypic.com/wkpz10.jpg

In context:
http://i53.tinypic.com/2qknuib.jpg

Cheers,

Carl Fogel