For Alma de la Luna.

Here now...comes the fall...that which was was living...must surrender to all.
The leaves of summer...once full of green life...float to the ground...a lesson in strife.
The air of our bodies...once fresh and so clear...struggles in autumn to maintain our cheer.
The doldrums of winter beckon beyond...as does the grim reaper...whom all must respond.

It shatters my senses to know once again...that another year passes...but never an end.
I see in the wind a cold winters' day...that creeps ever closer...the farther I stay.
The magic they say...from this time of year...brings joy of the season...and nary a tear.
But who are they now to dictate my terms...for how I have lived...and what I have learned?

One thing for certain can claim what I know...that is the sorrow of winters' cold snow.
Like frost on the ground...it dries up the vine...entombed in the ice...the love that was mine.
Locked in a prison...with nowhere to flee...I freeze in the night...as coldness shakes me.
I knocked on the door...awaiting a call...but silence remains...no answer at all.

Another year passes...another with pain...another with sorrow...another with shame.
Still does the cold of winters' breath blow...it freezes your heart...buried in snow.
Fourteen years have I seen this play...never it changes...to my great dismay.
I ask of the heavens...what happened to spring? What happened to summer?
Why can I not sing?

Silence my friend...of whom life do we share...must I be lonely...to hear what you hear?
Must I be mute...that no song can she hear...when all that I say...falls on deaf ears?
Why o' why...must fall come so soon...for winter must follow...shrouded in gloom!
That is my life...my part and my play...to forever seek summer...on a cold winters' day.

When last I am frozen...and life draws away...I whisper in silence...these words do I say.
As I lie down now... for my long winters' sleep...I will feel the grass...warm on my cold feet.
I will see the sun...as summer can bring...the joy of such life...that came in the spring.
The flowers will bloom of all colors and smell...reminding me often...of life's mystic spell.
Never again...the snow will I face...when in my own reason...I find my own season.

In fields of green and yellow hue...I watch the time pass...for love that was true.
For Alma de la Luna...the question remains...where art thou now living...in heavens' domain?

Nest of Vipers. Here are 3 baby southern pacific rattlers. There are actually 4, but one is out of view. Almost cute...if they weren't so toxic.  

This is a flattened leaf (patch) nosed snake who was NOT successful in getting across the road. A hard snake to find in the wild. They are secretive and usually nocturnal.

The latest casualty. Found this little intergrade California Kingsnake flattened on road just last night. This particular species exists between the chocolate and yellow coastal phase and the black and white desert phase color morphs. This makes a total of 2 mountain kings and 3 banded kings that were DOR. The normal casualties are gopher snakes and rattle snakes.  

This is a baby Southern Pacific Rattlesnake. It is about 12 inches long and probably less than 4 weeks old. Rattlesnakes are not hatched from eggs...they are born live and ready for action. Their venom is a potent as the adults. This particular specimen has a beautiful light slate color pattern. It was also very hungry and immediately killed and ate a newborn (pinky) mouse. S. Pacific rattlers are not as aggressive as western and eastern diamond backs and timber rattlers. They can reach over 5 feet in exceptional examples. Certain populations of these snakes near the Ventura County line turn almost black as adults.  

Another casualty of the road. This is the second California Mountain King Snake we found that was freshly killed. We (my cousin and I) just missed saving its' life by a few minutes. These snakes are rare and quite colorful...as you can see by the pic. It was about 10 inches long...just a week or so out of the egg. Another waste of a very efficient rodent exterminator.  

No Contest! Shelob can easily overpower and eat adult mice and small rats. The mouse (was) a full size adult and looks dwarfed by the size of this gargantuan spider. You can see one of her fangs sunk in the head of the mouse. That has really got to hurt!