Unexpected was the prompt from November 23rd 2013 and my response centred on surprises that caught you unawares – the buddah inside a tree, things found on dog walks and a friend meeting up with us on holiday for my birthday.
On Tuesday, when we were having a building and pest inspection at the house we are going to be moving, I was certainly not expecting to come across a family of snakes. Initially I only saw one and it looked like a brown snake to me. The pest man came and saw it but it was so covered by leaf litter that he couldn’t tell what kind of snake it was.
I returned later thinking that it obviously needed some sun and I was as unexpected to him as he was to me. As the house had been empty for months he probably felt it was safe to reemerge.
© irene waters 2018 (see the others hidden under the leaf)
© irene waters 2018
© irene waters 2018
This time though I discovered it was an entire family of snakes but luckily not our deadly brown snakes. The pest man diagnosed that our family were tree snakes that were harmless. I breathed a sigh of relief. Snakes don’t worry me unduly but I do worry about Muffin with poisonous snakes and our brown snakes – even I am wary of.
I much prefer the unexpected snake I came across on our bush walk in the Blue Mountains last week.
© irene waters 2018
The pest man told us after being on the roof – we have a resident python – a large one. Hopefully Muffin is not small enough to be its unexpected dinner.
Perhaps there was a reason why I unexpectedly photographed a vehicle I came across on my walk a week or so ago.
© irene waters 2018
For those of you that enjoyed the weekly photo challenge there is good news. Four ladies have taken up the gauntlet and starting this Saturday will be giving us a prompt to challenge our photographic skills and creative thinking. For more detail visit Patti Moed It starts this Saturday.
Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist) 
After our discussion of a recent title that led me to think you were photographing snakes instead of peeling eucalyptus, I recall you saying you wouldn’t be photographing snakes! What a difference a week makes! While the silver snake is stunning, I’m not sure I’d feel settled at the words “resident python.” Suddenly, I’m grateful it snows where I am!
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LOL. These weren’t shedding their skins – a time when they are most active and agressive and thinking it was winter that they’d be slow moving I had to check them out, particularly as I had a pest man on the property. The only think I really worry about is Muffin and I had to make sure it was safe for her.
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You know way more about snakes than I’m comfortable with, lol! But I understand wanting to keep Muffin safe.
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The snakes are very beautiful, aren’t they, with their shiny scales. I am wary of snakes too as I don’t know which ones are poisonous and which are not.
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I’ve been taught that if you see a snake you stand perfectly still. They cannot smell and their eye sight is extremely poor. All they really see is movement so if you are still they can’t tell whether you are a tree or something else. I’ve had to do it once with a poisonous snake and it worked but I was about to have a heart attack whilst I stood still.
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Ohhh, I am sure. That is a scary position to be in.
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Thank you so much, Irene for spreading the word about our photo challenge! We really appreciate that!
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I absolutely despise all snakes and will go countries out of my way to avoid them. An entire family of snakes in your new home, and you still plan to move in? Yikes! Your photos are too close for me.
But I must ask – is that silver one real, or is a snake sculpted of metal?
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I had to check the snakes out because I couldn’t risk Muffin finding them if they were brown snakes. Luckily they aren’t poisonous so they can stay. She will probably move them on when she gets there. The house has been empty for a year so they probably moved in to enjoy the quiet.
The silver one is a sculpture I came across on a hike in the Blue Mountains. I thought it was quite beautiful and much preferable to the real thing. I don’t know whether it was meant as a warning or just a bit of artistic flare although with the natural beauty around us it was perhaps not needed.
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