However there was nothing like nearly stepping on a tiger snake while out walking with Miske to get the heart racing. The snake was very dark black, very very fat and ended with a short narrow tail. She disappeared quickly off the trail, flattening her body behind her head as she went, to look bigger and scarier. That wasn't necessary - trust me, I got a heck of a shock she was so close. Bear in mind I was out walking bare footed ... and Miske was happily sniffing and investigating scents and sounds just ahead of me.
Checking with Dad, he suspected the snake was gravid. She was so fat there could have been quite a few baby snakes packed inside her. Female tiger snakes can produce litters of up to forty live young. Tiger snakes are one of the group of viviparous snakes (those that give birth to live young), mostly found in the cooler regions of Australia. Their venom is dangerous, containing chemicals that cause presynaptic and post synaptic paralysis, coagulopathy (reduced ability to clot blood) and muscle destruction. Sounds like they have all the bases covered. However, people usually only get bitten if they try to interfere with the snake - or accidentally tread on one.
Only a few paces further along the trail I heard another slithery rustle slipping away from the trail. Miske heard it too and she wanted to investigate - but I said no. On the way back, she again wanted to check out the slithery rustle bushes. No way! I think I will avoid that part of the trail for a while - the mind boggles at the thought of dodging dozens of diminutive tigers, let alone the adults!
It was only a couple of days ago that I was surprised by another tiger snake coiled in a figure of eight beside a track down by the creek. It quickly slipped off into the bush when it heard me. Again Miske was ahead and oblivious to it's presence. The day before that, Mark was surprised by a dugite that was surprised by Mark, right beside our carport. The large brown snake quickly slithered up the bank, and disappeared into the ground cover there, but for a moment they were almost eyeball to eyeball. Fright to flight.
Summer is also the season for making jams and chutneys. While waiting for the first apricots to ripen I was reminded of my friend's apricot orchard. She always said in the week before Christmas she heard the 'plop, plop, plop' of ripe apricots falling to the ground. Down here it is the week after the new year that the apricots ripen and fall to the ground, but without the "plop, plop, plop' as here they fall onto soft green grass, not the dry gravelly ground of the Perth hills.
It is now a week into the new year and I am picking and eating apricots. Yesterday I made my first batch of apricot jam. I love the fragrance of cooking apricots and the sight of jars full of translucent apricotness. Today I made apricot chutney. I'll leave the snakes to savour the summer sun, while I savour the summer fruits. And maybe, just maybe, put my shoes on for my walks with Miske.
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