Wednesday, April 27, 2011

He Thought He Could Walk On Water

He just did not have the faith.

Let me first explain that we all have our fears.  Mine is spiders and most of the guys here at Briary River are terrified of snakes.  I respect snakes but I am not afraid of them. 

As you read in Buckman's last post we have been getting behind on dam work. So Friday we decided that we needed to bust the dam and set the traps.  Knowing that we are going to have to walk through a swampy area and as I mentioned before, they are scared of snakes, Buckman was on point with the shotgun. 

Walking out Tracy was staying behind Buckman.  He was not going anywhere that Buckman had not cleared.  Finally we reached the hole in the dam, without incident. 

Knowing how snakes would love a place like the dam, I was playing it smart.  (you know, upon reflection this may have been my problem.  Anytime I decide to play something smart it always backfires)  I used the hoe to move objects out of the dam until I was certain that there were no snakes.   Once I had the area clear of anything large that could house a snake I really got to work.  I started pulling things out by hand and clearing the dam.  This is when things got interesting. 

I reached down and picked up a log and tossed it aside.  As I reached down for the next log I saw it.  About a 3 and a half foot cotton mouth.  Luckily he was trying to get away. Unfortunately the water was running hard toward me and he was having trouble getting up on the hill.  I knew that I had no wear to go and neither did it. Again I am not scared of snakes but I will be darned if I want a poisonous snake that is scared using me for a climbing post.

I yelled for Buckman with the shot gun.  Normally this would not have fazed them because I love to mess with them over this.  ( I guess crying wolf about got me on this one)  However Tracy said that they could hear the desperation in my voice so he turned to see and that is when Tracy saw it and the fun began.  He freaked.  He turned to run out into the pond and since walking on water was not working out for him, he realized that by being short he would be above his waders.  He desperately wants to be away from the snake but he also does not want to get wet.  He is in about 2 1/2 feet of water and pluff mud, running, and sees the hill.  He tries to cut back to the dam at full stride.  We all know this aint going to end well.

Buckman checks to make sure that we are clear and shoots the snake.  As soon as the shot goes off Tracy still being in full panic mode (I don’t know why, the thing that he is terrified of is dead)and trying to turn looses his footing and takes a full on dive into the pond.  He pops up and starts clamoring for the hill like the buggy man is behind him. 

When he finally reaches the hill and Buckman pulls him up,he is soaking wet everywhere but his hair.  I'm not sure if his head did not go under (don’t know how it couldn’t have) or if he was back up so fast that the water did not get a chance to stick.  I was laughing so hard I forgot to release the locks on the traps.

Now we have two problems.  The between season drag, and I guy who says that he is not going back out there. Well I guess it is up to Buckman, me and who ever we can con into it to finish the pond the briary river way.

Joe              

Oh and Tracy stop being a big baby.  That snake just wanted to be your friend.

2 comments:

  1. I knew this would be a good one for Joe to write. As always though, he's not telling the full truth. You see, after I shot the snake checked Tracy, I mean the death blow had been delt and he's still trying to walk on water.

    Now Joe can try to play Joe cool if he wants to. But he was pretty concerened over the situation. Now I don't know if it's because he just about grabbed a three and a half foot pitted viper, or if it was becasue he feared the said pitted viper may try to make it's exit between himself and my 12 ga. pump. But that desperation that he said was in his voice sounded a lot like fear to me.

    I will hand it to min though, at least he had enough wits about himself that he started looking for the snakes head as soon as we knew that Tracy was OK. I mean I had nearly detached it from the body and Joe was downstream in a swift current. It would be bad to be hit by a dead snakes fangs, better to be safe than sorry.

    Buckman

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