Eastern Milk Snake!

 

   After spending the morning in the house waiting for the tropical storm to materialize we decided not to waste anymore of the day. We didn't have any plans because who makes outdoor plans during a possible hurricane besides my friend Dave? So after a few quick minutes of thinking we decided to go herping in the place I saw ten snakes last week. 

   I knew Rhode Island was going to be spared almost the entire affects of the storm. I hoped it had rained in the morning and the sun would come out to dry things up making hungry snakes come out to feed. When I got down to South County it looked as though it never rained at all. Even more surprisingly, the water was calm. 

   Laurie and I looked along the edges of the grass like Greg and I did earlier in the week but didn't have much success. We each only found one snake. This was a bit of a surprise to me. 

    When herpers lift rocks to see if anything is living under them it is called "flipping". This is sort of a misnomer, at least for me, because after I lift a rock I always put it back exactly as I found it. Today we found nine snakes while flipping. I caught five Decay's Brown Snakes, three Garters and one really special snake.

   My first snake was a Decay's followed by a Garter. Both were babies about five inches long. I caught them both and showed them to Laurie and got some photos. The Brown Snake was a lifer for Laurie. I caught both of them under consecutive rocks. I was pumped to get two different species in a row and also to get them in such a short amount of time. All told, I got four of my eleven snakes in less than five minutes. The other species of snake I caught was a baby Eastern Milk Snake!

 

  I had seen only one Eastern Milk Snake before. It was at the Saratoga National Battlefield in New York. It was up on a hill near a canon of all places. Laurie and I kind of harassed it into the woods so no one would bother/kill it. I did take some photos first. 

   Today's Eastern Milk was much smaller. It was probably a foot long. The adult I had seen was a dull brown. Today's little guy was absolutely gorgeous.  It had a gray and scarlett design. The marking were not linear as I expected. They were varied and curved. When I saw it, I was in shock and yelled out loud to Laurie multiple times that I had a Milk Snake. I was so nervous I would miss it. It turned out that was a moot point because it thought it was hidden and didn't move until I picked it up. Once in my hand it got feisty. It bit me twice but it was so small I couldn't feel it. I brought it over to Laurie and I took a dozen photos.

   I texted Greg to confirm I did indeed have a Milk Snake. He told me he was on his way and asked if I could hold it for him until he got there. I had already let it go but it was still under the rock I put it under. I picked it up and kept it safe for the ten minutes until he got there. He took some photos then we let it go. Greg walked with us for a few minutes but he had to leave. Laurie and I found a few more snakes but none of them were as cool as the Eastern Milk Snake.

Photo by Greg Nemes

Photo by Greg Nemes

The underside is a 
beautiful black and
white checkerboard

Another Greg photo
The underside is amazing

Photo by Greg Nemes

Another underside photo. I couldn't get over the markings.

One of many Decay's 
Brown Snakes

A Garter in a cool
pose

Ten Snake Day with my friend Greg!

 

   Greg Nemes is a great herper probably the best in Rhode Island. Of all of my birder friends he was the one that spent as much time looking down for snakes as well as up for birds. I met Greg because of birding. I ran across him quite often chasing the same birds or just at birding hotspots. Because of him, I got my first Rhode Island Screech Owl and saw a show of Common Nighthawks in Lincoln. We weren't very close but always said hi to each other when we ran into each other. Unfortunately, Greg moved to the Los Angeles area a couple of years ago.

   When I got into serious herping I sent Greg a message asking for any advice such as best time of day or season to find snakes. Greg sent me an email back the length of a short story. It was full of general info such as best time and place but also so much more. He gave me specifics on each species, their range, and even some locations. The email was far more than I could have ever expected. A few months later I ran across a Milk Snake when I was on a weekend getaway in New York. I wasn't sure what it was so I sent him the photo and he identified it. 

    We have kept in touch. I've asked some advice when I had specific questions. When I've had a great day or seen a cool species I've told him the story or sent him the info. He has sent me some photos and info on snakes he has seen in California and on international vacations. We spend a lot more time keeping in contact than we did when he lived in New England. We have become solid friends. Greg had a vacation planned for this week back to Rhode Island. He told me he was coming to visit and we should plan on going herping together. Obviously, I jumped at the chance. 

   We planned on meeting Tuesday at 9:30 am but because of all the rain we hoped it would dry out some and pushed it until 10 am. We met at the parking lot and started looking for snakes along the edges of trails. Because the grass was still really wet, I thought one snake would be a good day and Greg was hoping for three. My goal was just to see one together. our other big hope was to catch one so we could take a photo together to add to my "photos with friends". 

   Luckily, today was great. We ended up seeing ten snakes together! There were two that only I saw and one that only he saw. The species count was seven Garter Snakes and three Decay's Brown Snakes. We ended up catching three. When I say we, I mean Greg caught three. We had a lot of misses where we both missed, but luckily Greg was successful at catching a couple of snakes. 

   We took photos of the three in our hands and also on the ground. We got our "selfie" with two of the snakes including a tiny Garter and a tiny Brown Snake. After getting the photos of one snake, the pressure was off of the "photos with friends". 

Tiny Decay's Brown Snake

   We missed one Garter that was easily our biggest snake. It was in tall grass but slithered at Black Racer speed to the water. I also missed a "large" Brown Snake that was about a foot long. We were happy to get our little baby snakes though.

   I had a lot of fun herping with Greg today. Seeing ten snakes far exceeded expectations. But as with other outdoor pursuits, it wasn't just the snakes. I really enjoyed the conversation. As usual, I asked a million questions but it was just a fun afternoon anyway. 

Sleepy Hollow, NY

   

Rip Van Winkle
This Sycamore is more than 250 years old. It
is older than the United States and was on 
the property when Washington Irving bought it.

   I will be starting this posts the same way I do with many others...I have wanted to go to (fill in the blank) for years. It has been on my bucket list for a very long time. This is true of this post but for reasons beyond my control, I just never seemed to get to Sleepy Hollow until this weekend. Multiple times we planned on going to Sleepy Hollow and the weather would be rainy all weekend. Another time, we hoped to go last Columbus Day weekend and the campground was full. Luckily, this was the weekend.

   You probably know of Sleepy Hollow because of the Washington Irving short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" about Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. Irving lived in Sleepy Hollow, NY which is a village of Tarrytown. Another part of Tarrytown in a village named after Irving named Irvington. Irving wrote many tales about the area including a history of the Hudson Valley and more famously Rip Van Winkle.

Probably a more accurate
depiction of Rip Van Winkle

    Irving was a nomad and travelled much of his life. He finally settled down in Sleepy Hollow at the age of fifty two. He bought a nice property along the Hudson and built a house which he named  "Sunnyside". He was a romantic and designed the house with many European style influences. He had the grounds laid out to be parklike with paths weaving around the hills. He built a small pond and a small stream.

   
   We only spent Sunday and Monday in the Hudson Valley. Laurie and I went on two tours, more on those below. We stayed twenty miles north of Tarrytown in a town called Peekskill. Peekskill is where the TV show "The Facts of Life" took place. Incidentally, Ossining is a town between Tarrytown and Peekskill. Don Draper, a character from Mad Men lived in that town. Obviously, many movies have been about Sleepy Hollow so we spent a lot of time in places where television shows were filmed. The place we stayed was called Inn on the Hudson. It wasn't quite on the river but had a commanding view of it. Almost across the street ( you would need to drive) was Peekskill Park where there is a boat ramp and river access. Inn on the Hudson was $107/night. The rooms were clean but one electrical outlet was broken. Photos of each thing we did below the text.

   We left Sunday morning and came back Monday evening. The first thing we did was go to a farmer's market in Irvington. I really wanted to feel "old New York/New England" so the farmer's market was something I was looking forward to. I only bought a crepe for breakfast and some unpasteurized cheese. None the less, I was happy we went.

   Next we went to a tour of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Sleepy Hollow has many different types of tours. We chose the one hour "Original Knickerbocker Tour". Our tour guide was a high school history teacher named Tal. He was great. We stopped at Washington Irving's grave along with many others. Tal told us a ton of facts about Irving,  gravestones, and a few of the residents of the cemetery.

This is a chamber from the tomb below

This was a storage tomb. The dead were put in here in the winter when the ground was frozen. 
In the spring they would be removed and buried in their plots. We got to go inside

Washington Irving's grave between the two flags. He was a veteran of the War of 1812

 After our Knickerbocker Tour Laurie and I went around the cemetery looking for historical figures. The cemetery has a lot of famous residents and it would have taken hours to find them all. We just went to the graves of Andrew Carnegie, Walter Chrysler, and William Rockefeller, a partner in Standard Oil with his brother John D

Carnegie's grave is by far the most humble.  

Rockefeller Mausoleum 

Chrysler Mausoleum

   One thing we wanted to do was find real places that Irving woven into his stories. The most famous would be the Sleepy Hollow Bridge that the Headless Horseman rode over to slay old Ichabod Crane. The bridge no longer stands over the river. There is a plaque where the bridge used to be. Now a large asphalt bridge is in it's place. There is a bridge in the cemetery a quarter mile from the original bridge that now has the name Headless Horseman Bridge

The new Headless Horseman Bridge

   Another famous location from the story is the Old Dutch Church. The church was built in 1697! Irving knew about these places because he spent time here as a boy when there was a Yellow Fever epidemic in New York City. 

     After visiting the cemetery we went to the motel. It was hot and showers were needed. We made supper and just watched some television for an hour then went to Peekskill Park. I saw a guy catch a White Sucker and immediately put in in a bucket to take home. 

View from Peekskill Park and a spot on my lens!

Monday morning we got a "bag breakfast from Inn on the Hudson. The breakfast included a small OJ, granola bar, small muffin, and a yogurt. From there we took a few photos of the Hudson River at Peekskill Park.

  We drove down to Irving's home the "Sunnyside" We took the 11 am tour which lasted about an hour. Again, it was great. Our guide told us about the home and of course, Washington Irving. After the tour we were allowed to walk the grounds. There were paths through the woods. We stopped at the small pond. It rained a little and we took shelter in the gazebo. There were apple trees on the property. I may or may not have snagged one and ate it. There was a beautiful garden with the tallest corn I've ever seen. There were beautiful flowers and pumpkins.

View of Irving's house and the Hudson

The ivy growing on Irving's house was planted by him. It is two hundred years old

A close up of the 250 year old Ivy plant

As previously stated, I could not guarantee this apple made it safely through the day

When the railroad came through, part of Irving's land was taken through immanent domain

I have never seen corn this tall

  After the tour, we made a quick stop at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery for a few more photos and came home. 

   There are other things to do in Sleepy Hollow and the Hudson Valley. There are other mansions to our including the Rockefeller Estate. There are  many parks and places to hike. There are events including farmer's markets, concerts, and festivals every weekend. I'm not too interested in mansions and I hike a lot. We really wanted to learn about Irving and the legends of the area. 

   If you go...

    Tarrytown is not quintessential New England (yes I know it is New York). The town is kind of built up. You'll find pizza places, drug stores, and all other stores in town. But it looks like any other strip mall or store fronts. It is after all, a suburb of NYC. Though there are town commons and parks, do not expect the falling of autumn leaves in front of a big white church. The façade is kind of run down.

  I could write a million things to help you plan your trip, but the website https://visitsleepyhollow.com/ has all the info you would need. I spent countless hours over the past two years deciding what to do. The most important page was the calendar of events. If you want to go to the Sunnyside, you have to go to their website, because it does not seem to be on the visitsleepyhollow website.

More photos below

Irving's root cellar 

Woodshed

Washington Irving's Ice House
Ice was carved from ponds over the winter and stored 
in ice houses to keep food from spoiling over the summer

Irving sat here for sure

The most accurate rest room sign I've seen

My crepe from the farmer's market

Luckily for me, I did not sleep twenty years which is a good thing!

When Laurie and I got home we had a tribute
to Jimmy Buffett. I'm sure it will be one of many.

The Jimmy Buffett Influence

 

Key West sunset

  I have started this post at least five times over the last decade. For some reason it never gets written and always ends up in my "drafts". Since it is snowing today (April 16!!!) my plan for the day is to be productive all day. No napping, and screen time has to be useful. So here I am hoping to actually accomplish my first blog post in a month that I started years ago.

  Of all of the artists writers, musicians, or athletes I have been a fan of none of them has had a bigger influence on my life that James W. Buffett (born Christmas Day 1946).  I was not introduced to Buffett's music until I was at least in my late 20's. I was doing traffic surveys in Hyannis and we had to stay overnight. We went out to eat at a restaurant near the rotary called Starbucks (not the coffee shop, and out of business now). While we were there, there was a live cover  band and dancing. One of the songs they played was "Volcano". The place went crazy and you could feel everyone's mood change.

   Fast forward a year or two and I'm doing traffic survey's at Great Woods. I was at the parking lot entrance. As you can imagine I got to see some of the parking lot antics of a Jimmy Buffett crowd. There were pick up trucks bringing their own beach. There was a pirate ship. Of course there were scantily clad ladies. I decided then I needed to figure out what this craze was all about. 

So I went out and bought Buffett's greatest hits known as "Songs you know by Heart". Well that was all it took. I listened to "A Pirate Looks at Forty"  "Changes in Latitude", "Come Monday" and "Son of a  Sailor" and I became a Parrothead overnight. 

   I have seen Jimmy in concert many times since then. I don't know the exact number but I've seen him around five times.  Like everyone else, I get there early and spend time in the parking lots. Walking around the lots and seeing everyone have a good time is half of the fun. 

   Buffett puts on a great concert. We mixes up his set every year. He usually does a cover or two and mixes in a few new songs. He does play crowd favorites that are referred to as the Great 8. As you can figure out these are eight songs he plays at every concert. Of course, Margaritaville, Volcano, and Fins are part of his set along with the songs I listed in the forth paragraph. He also plays Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl" and CSNY "Southern Cross". Overall his concerts are a fun time. 

   However, when I say that Buffett influenced me, it is not his concerts. It's not the parking lots. What influenced me is the lifestyle. Now, before I get started, I know that Jimmy plays a character. He is a savvy business man and has created an empire. He is the owner of the Margaritaville chain of restaurants. He owns Landshark Laager. Margaritaville has expanded into resorts and motels. The guy is worth half a BILLION dollars.  When he is on stage he is pandering to a bunch of drunken idiots that are swinging "Fins to Left, Fins to the Right"  myself included. He is playing to a crowd that is wearing hula skirts and men wearing coconut bras (to which I am not included).

   However it the much less commercial side of Buffett's music and lifestyle that I feel. I love the freedom he lives his life with. Despite all of his ventures. He still finds time to engage in his hobbies. He is an avid surfer. Jimmy loves to fish. He owns a house in Sag Harbor New York mostly so he has easy access to striped bass. Yes, despite all those years in the keys, Buffett loves stripers as much as us die hard surf fisherman. Though his main weapon is a fly rod from his boat. 

   Admittedly, Buffett has the money to live the lifestyle many of us dream about. I cannot take a trip around the world then write a book about it (A Pirate Looks at Fifty). I won't own a house in Aspen, Sag Harbor and northern California. However, I can do more than dream. As I've written many times, I have my bucket list notebook. Any chance I take I check something off of my ever growing list. While my list seems to get longer every year, that is not at all demoralizing. It just means that I keep finding more things I want to do. What fun would life be if I finished everything on my bucket list? I want to keep dreaming and looking forward to the next adventure. Surprisingly, Jimmy still has a bucket list. Just a couple years ago Buffett played in a venue that one of his idles, Mark Twain, played in New Zealand. He is still a kid at heart.

   The truth is, while I like Jimmy's commercial songs, he is one of the few artists that I like there not so famous work. A lot of Buffett's non-commercial songs are real. They represent his real life stories. Of course, there are a few commercial exceptions such as" A Pirate Looks at Forty". But in general many of my favorite Buffett songs are non commercial and about real people, places, or experiences.

    This year, thanks to the pandemic, Jimmy put out two cd's in a four moth period. The first was a bunch of new songs  "Called Life on the Flip Side". The other is called Songs you Don't Know by Heart". It is a collection of songs he had previously recorded that weren't mainstream successes. None the less, some still have quite a following. The songs on the cd were picked online by Buffett fans over a many week poll. He put the songs together and made a cd. It is killer. Many of the songs are about Key West such as "Woman going Crazy on Caroline Street" and Tin Cup for a Chalice" which he wrote after seeing his first Key West sunset. 

  Let's talk about Key West for a minute. One thing I took away from Jimmy's songs was a yearning to visit Key West. I wanted to visit the places that Buffett played and Hemingway drank. I wanted to go into Captain Tony's to get out of the heat. Though KW is way more touristy and built up than when Jimmy started out there, it still holds the dream of a pirate town. You can go into Captain Tony's and you can go to Sloppy Joe's both of which Hemingway was a regular. You can visit Hemingway's house. I love Key West and I want to go back, probably more than any place I have ever been. 

Living the life I live, I know I'm pretty lucky. I am fortunate that once I buy the equipment, the things I most love to do are pretty much free (birding, hiking, fishing, snorkeling, quahogging) except for gas. I take mini-adventures all of the time. My trips to Block Island, New Hampshire, and the Cape help me from going crazy. When I am not doing adventures even regular days off are usually spent fifty miles from home and usually near the ocean. In my opinion the most important thing you can do in life is collect memories. That is what I try to do. Everyday isn't a perfect because of work and responsibilities. But every chance I get, I'm out there trying to have as much fun as I can. I think Jimmy would approve.

Post Script

   For the last couple of years I have wanted to see Jimmy Buffett in concert one more time. I knew he was getting up there in age and he wouldn't tour forever. I assumed he would tour this summer and when I realized he wasn't it saddened me but also worried me a little bit. My fears were realized when I woke up this morning. 

   Rereading this today on Buffett's death I realize, despite my best efforts, I can not put into perspective how much his music and books meant to me. "A Pirate Looks at Fifty" is an inspiring book. Words in his songs, are mottos I live by. It's silly, but when I buy shrimp at the grocery store, I always buy raw and not cooked shrimp just so I "smell those shrimp, they're beginning to boil". For that small minute, I feel the same as Jimmy Buffett.

  Despite feeling I have some small talent for words, I never know what to say in the line at wakes. "I'm sorry for your loss" always feels so generic to me. It bothers me that I have never thought of something more poetic to let those grieving know that I understand their pain and sympathize. The same is true right now. I wrote all of those paragraphs two years ago and it does not feel as though I wrote what I feel. So many songs hit home for me. 

   Wherever you are Jimmy, know millions of us will miss you. Truthfully, I don't care about those millions. I care about what you're music has done for me. My life has been enriched because of you. Driving over the Seven Mile Bridge will never be the same. I will miss you

Nick Pacelli 

September 2

8:16 AM 

Norton, MA