Creature feature

I'm still file-cleaning mode, so here are all the animal photos taken this year that I have not yet shared.

Fair warning to the faint of heart regarding reptiles, the oldest and therefore first photos below are of snakes.

I didn't see many snakes this year, yet oddly enough, the last one I saw was just a week or so ago in our arena! That seemed awfully late for a cold-blooded creature to be out and about. I didn't think to take a photo of the little thing until after I scooped it up (wearing gloves) and put it elsewhere so it wouldn't get trampled by the horses. When I went back to look for it, it had disappeared in the grass.

The first photo below is of a defensive fella doing its best to look like a rattler 'way back in April:

Rick uncovered a nest of little striped beauties in the wood pile in July while stacking wood; they didn't stick around long:

Chuckie always sticks around; he's such a lover boy!

I have lots of lover-sheep, too. Here is Berlin taking after her sire, mooching for scritches:

Spangle is still a skittish thing, but the other day she was intent on trying to grab something through the chainlink of the run while I was in it and I was able to pick her up. Isn't she a beauty?

Kate and Splash are sweet girls who let me pick them up at will. They are both a little muddy from grubbing around in the run. When we had heavy rainfall, "a river ran through it."

Now that a couple of my old hens are laying again occasionally, we sometimes get five eggs – like today!

Here's my sidekick again:

If you need a horse fix, there are lots of photos over on my dressage blog.

Now if you'll excuse me, a friend sent me an Advent Calendar and there is a piece of chocolate in it with my name on it. Happy December!

That's it for now from the creatures at . . .