Rising Damp

Water squirting from wet-weather springs in the road cuts. The driveway grader ditch is scoured clean. Too wet to consider yard work, so I take a slow quiet drive to town, linger in the library, go the pup for a beer and salad. As it's Monday, they don't let me pay for the beer. The annual box turtle migration is in full swing, a bit late this year, according to my records. I take three off Mackletree and put them on the side they seem to be headed toward. I see no pattern in the direction, but I'm not a box turtle. Stopped at the rock cairn, to check nearby additions, and there were a pair of turtles either mating or building a tower. These are Eastern Box Turtles, lovely orange patterns on the upper shell (carapace, I like that word), and slow, as you might expect. Gets its name from the fact that the plastron (lower shell) is hinged in the middle. This allows for very tight closer, "boxes" the critter in for protection. From a flyer the Park Service gives out: "The greatest threat to Ohio's box turtles is the thoughtless driver who makes no attempt to avoid running over them as they lumber across the highway." Read that as actively trying to run over them for that satisfying crunch. After a lot of rain, you see them crossing to higher ground, their holes are full of water. Ricked sycamore outside to dry, then took a walk, down the driveway, clipping away the canopy. Hanging Gardens Of Low Gap Hollow. Walking back to the house there's a rattlesnake stretched across the drive, big as my arm, twice as long, an old female I think, maybe the matriarch, I know there's a nest, a den, whatever they call it for snakes, somewhere nearby, probably the graveyard. Not profiling here, I read something somewhere. I knew I could stamp my feet and the snake would go the other way, pretty sure I believed that, and I wanted to see her more closely. Put myself at some risk and moved forward a few feet. I'm afraid of snakes, they give me the vapors, I'm certainly not going to measure it and weight it and send it on its way, but it seems to be enjoying the sun and not an immediate threat, so I moved closer. A beautiful creature, the scales, the color, that yellow goes so well with the black. I finally stamped my feet because I wanted to get home, and it worked perfectly, the snake disappeared and I walked home.You want to know the truth, I think you're full of shit, the world is not that hard to understand. A noun-verb thing. Hey. I thought you'd be free. What? Did I say something wrong? Have you identified me yet, the aging hippy that appears in the last frame. I thought you knew that. Here's a quarter, how might you flip it. It's always Patsy Cline on the radio. Hey. For instance.