You Never Know What Is Around

......crawling beside my stand was a snake about five feet long. It was a King Snake, but with me sitting inside my stand, eight feet off of the ground, one way out, left me feeing a little queasy. I watched as the snake was getting pelted with acorns and it crawled up to one of the legs of my stand. Ok, now if this snake starts to crawl up this stand, I will abandon it rather quickly. Fortunely for me, he is on the opposite side of my ladder. He seemed to start to ascend up the stand, then he turned and buried himself under the leaves and crawled off. He was like a mole going through the leaves until he came to a stump hole and down inside he went. I have crossed over this stump hole hundreds of times and it never dawned on me that a snake was hiding inside.

On the banks of creeks, sloughs, and rivers are root and vine holes. I was sitting on the bank of Wood Lake drain and saw a snake crawl into one of these holes. I quickly stood up as I was sitting over the same kind of holes this snake crawled into. Bottom line is there are snakes all around, just like coyotes, you may not see them, but they are there.

Back to the Duck Roost. I remember when the Duck Roost was narrow at the location my stand is. In fact a road used to go through here and went on to Oakey Ridge. Beavers along with the mighty Neches, have claimed more ground and the Duck Roost is wider and deeper now. Even in the Summer the middle of the Roost is muddy and boggy.

During the latest drought I walked out into the Duck Roost as far as I could. I could see towards Oakey Ridge, Devil's Lake, East Pine Island, West Pine Island. I looked at thick hall bushes and tall grasses lining the bank. Tress that once were alive and reached proudly toward the sky, sit dead yet are still used as nesting trees. On the ridges, Oaks and Pines stand tall over-looking this ever growing swamp, standing as guards as if they know what a special place this is. I was in the middle of all this splendor and I realized how fortunate I am and just how important the Duck Roost is to Ryan's Lake.

Wood popped and cracked inside the steel stove. I glanced over and was proud of the heat that I could feel now, because I knew when I wake in the morning it will be very cold. I thought to my-self, how long will this stove last until David has to replace it? Then I heard the dog again.....