Indigo Snakes

Everyone knows my fear of snakes but there are two snakes that I've always admired.

The Coral snake and the Indigo snake.

Coral snakes are just so pretty that even a snake-o-phobe like myself can appreciate how beautiful they are.

The other snake that I have a fascination with is the Indigo.

The Eastern Indigo is the largest, non-venomous snake in North America with the longest on record being 9'2" long.

They were once common from the southern tip of South Carolina west to southeastern Mississippi and throughout Florida, including the Keys.

Today, their current range is restricted to southern Georgia and peninsular Florida, with a few isolated populations in the Florida panhandle and north Key Largo.

Indigos were federally protected as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1978, and they are also "protected as threatened" by the State of Florida, making it illegal to harass, harm, capture, keep, or kill them.

While we were out listening for frogs, I asked the biologist about Indigos on the Reservation.

He says there are a few living on the Reservation but that their location is "top secret" and he's not allowed to tell anyone where he's seen them.

Collectors have almost wiped out the population that lived on Eglin so now their whereabouts are kept secret.

I asked if he knew how many are actually here and he said no, that to track them they'd have to catch and tag them and the government doesn't want them messed with at all.

He did say "I can tell you that there aren't very many."

Then he tells me about his encounter with one last year.

He was walking through the woods and saw part of a snake shed. He poked around it and was surprised to see that it was new and fully intact.

Because it was so new he went looking for it's owner and just a few yards away came across a huge Indigo.

He said it was so black that it was almost purple and was absolutely beautiful.

After watching the snake for a while he went back to get the shed.

He told us how he rolled it up around a stick, like a parchment, and then brought it back to his office and stretched it out to measure.

And then framed it because this shed was 8' long!



That's a huge snake!

While I definitely think they are cool, I'm not sure I want to run into one in the woods.

Wordless Wednesday

Pet Cemetery - Behind the Scenes

One night while we were out exploring Point Washington, we drove into a clearing and saw this.





A real pet cemetery out here in the woods.

With a fresh grave as well.





We got out to look and the Youngest Island Boy freaked out. He was terrified of being near any kind of cemetery, in the middle of the woods, and especially at night.

We walked around the woods a little to see if there were more graves but he was getting worse by the minute so we gave up, got back in the truck and drove on home.

But on the way the Island King started talking about what a great place that would be to put a night geocache.

We agreed we didn't want to put it near the cemetery since these are someone's pets and we don't want to disrespect the place they buried them but we also agreed that starting a cache hunt at a pet cemetery sounds like the beginnings of a scary night cache adventure.

So we went back the next day to take a look at the area.

The cemetery is on the edge of a small beautiful stand of pine trees.





During the day sunlight streams through the pines making it a very serene and peaceful spot.

But at night it's dark and scary looking.



Even with a good light you can't see very far in front of you and the trees and palmettos throw off great shadows.

This would be an excellent spot for a night cache. A scary night cache.

Pet Cemetery.

We were inspired and went to work.

The Island King's grandmother owned a huge Doberman Pincer named Demon so we decided to create a grave out in the woods, call it Demon's grave and hide the cache there.

The first afternoon we went out and picked just the right spot for the actual cache and then poked our way through the woods, picking out the trail we want people to follow.

The pine stand isn't that big so we created a twisting, turning, winding path to the cache location and then marked the trail with orange reflectors.



We came up with our plan and a few days later we loaded the truck with everything but the kitchen sink and off to Pt Washington we went.



We pulled into the Forest and went to work.





The Island King came up with an idea for a trip wire that sends this head flying down out of the tree when you pick up the cache.



We put a green ball in a mesh bag and then put it inside of the head so there would be something to secure the head to.





Then it was time for the hard part.

The Island King had to rig the head way up in a tree and then attach it to the ammo can.







The ammo can is tied to a line that has a clip on the end. Hidden in a palmetto bush several feet behind the grave is a PVC pipe which has a clip attached.



When the can is moved it pulls the clip and the head falls out of the sky.



He finished rigging the head and it was time to create the grave.

He carved the word Demon into an old board we had at the house with his chainsaw and attached it to a pine log we'd brought from home.





We covered the ground with substrate and pieces of broken shells to make it look like a real grave.



Then we sat down to burn the candles.

It got dark and it was kind of eerie sitting there in front of the grave - even though it isn't a grave.



We wanted it to look like someone came there and held some sort of ritual but this is a State Forest so we didn't want to leave candles half burnt.

So we sat down and the Island King burned them all the way down and then pulled the wicks out.



You can't see it but there is a big jug of water on the other side of him. I'm pretty sure the Special Use pass we had to get from the Forestry Division to place the cache would be revoked if we started a forest fire.

Earlier, we'd put some rib bones on the grave but it didn't take long to realize that they weren't clean enough and we were being swarmed by ants.

The bones had to go.

I added a final touch by getting one of those "snakes in a can" canisters, covering it with duct tape, writing Cache Log on the outside and putting it in the cache.

If the head dropping doesn't scare them, the snake popping out of the can will for sure.

Once the candles were burned and the cache was set we were ready to go.

Our next stop was TGIFridays where we came up with the Demon story.

A few days later I found some actual dog bones in the woods. Very sad but the sick part of my brain kicked in and I knew they'd be great on the Demon grave.

So I put them there.



We listed the cache on the geocaching website and have gotten some hysterical emails from people who've found the cache.

And we've been called "twisted" several times.

Which means our hard work paid off.

Happy Birthday Oldest Island Boy!

Happy Birthday!

You're a TEENAGER!!!!



We are very proud of you and are so thankful that God gave us such a wonderful son!

We love you!

Silent Sunday

Pet Cemetery

Imagine...

You want to go on a night time geocaching adventure so you look on the geocaching website and find a cache named Pet Cemetery.

The cache page tells you that this cache is not for the young or weak at heart.

And you read this -

"Back ‘round 1922 there was this mean old lady livin out in the woods who owned the biggest Doberman Pincer you’ve ever seen. Standing on his hind legs that dog was taller than a 6 foot man. 200 pounds of pure muscle, name of Demon, and as mean as that old woman.

Well, one evenin 2 escaped convicts from over in Chipley burst through the old lady’s door. One of them waved a big ole Bowie knife and yelled for the old woman to give him all of her money.

See, they didn’t know nothing bout that old woman or they’d have never busted in that door.

Both the old woman and Demon stood up and she snarled “My Demon will take care of you.”

Let me tell you their laughin stopped right quick when Demon sprang from the floor and in one jump grabbed the biggest man’s throat and ripped it from his neck.

The second ole boy bolted out the door and Demon was on him before he got to the porch steps.

Dead in an instant he was.

You know word spreads right quick round these parts and after that night no one ever bothered the old woman again.

Couple a years later Demon was bit right in the middle of his chest by an 8 foot rattlesnake that was layin in the garden. Whatn’t nothing could be done.

It took 5 days for that dog to die.

The old lady chanted spells and made a deal with the Devil to save her Demon.

He died on the fifth night, one of them dark, dark nights when you can’t see your hand in front of ya.

The old lady buried him in a hidden spot down in that old pet cemetery.

And I’m here to tell ya, the Devil took her deal. She’d sit at Demon’s grave on moonless nights, summoning his spirit.

And Demon would appear…

My granddaddy told me this story. I know it’s true."

___________________________________________________________________________________

So off you go to find Demon's grave and the cache hidden there.

The website gives you the coordinates for the starting point and you find yourself way out in Point Washington State Forest, in front of a pet cemetery in the woods.







These two appear to be fresh graves.





The directions tell you to now follow reflectors on the trees to find the cache so off you go, slowly making your way through the dark woods from one tree to another.





You get past the first two trees and then realize you have to go in there.



You wander through the woods for a while, listening to the sounds the woods make at night and wondering if this was really a good idea.

After almost 10 minutes of making your way from tree to tree you round a bend, cross an old firebreak road



and come to a huge palmetto bush.



There is another reflector on the tree behind the bush but there is dead wood, palmetto branches and all sorts of nature's debris on the ground so you are forced to take a narrow path around the palmetto towards the tree.

Once you're behind the palmetto and kind of trapped on the only clear path, you scan your flashlight around, looking for the next reflector.

And you see it.



Demon's grave.



With candles and bones - actual dog bones - spread out across the top of the grave.



While you're staring at that you glance to the left and see this.



Lovely.

And then your husband, who always proclaims himself fearless, tells you to go up and get the cache...



Once you reset the cache there is a well marked trail leading straight back to the truck, which is much closer than you realize.



If you're scared of snakes you'll keep your light pointed at the ground and you'll see lots of these.



Yuk. Yuk. Yuk.

A fun cache to find but it's definitely time to go home now!

The Nifty Fifty

Every once in a while the Island King has a client that wants pictures of a property taken from above.

Most of the time he charters a helicopter and takes the shots from the air.

But a helicopter won't work for sunset shots so that's when he rents the Nifty Fifty.



The Nifty Fifty is a fifty foot lift that you pull to the shoot location with your truck.

Then you raise yourself and your camera up fifty feet and start taking pictures.



It's odd, the man loves to take the door off of a helicopter and hang out taking pictures but he HATES being in the lift.

He says it sways in the wind and even though he knows it won't he feels like it's going to fall over at any moment.

The last time he rented a lift he got stuck at the top and had to wait almost an hour for the man from the rental company to come and lower the lift using the override switch at the base.

Needless to say, I now have to go with him on all lift shoots so that if he gets stuck I can work the override buttons on the base and get him down.

When we told the Island Girl where we were going she laughed and said she could just imagine us with the lift in a fancy neighborhood - yelling at each other.

Him up in the air yelling "Get me down!" and me on the ground yelling "Are you taking me out to dinner or not?"

Sunset shots are tough, you have to take the pictures at the right moment or they come out too light or too dark so he went up in the lift and waited.



This is the house he was shooting.



This is what the photo would look like if he took it from the ground using a point and shoot camera.



This is what he got from the lift.



He hasn't worked his photoshop magic on this one yet but when he finishes this picture will be the cover for a local magazine and it will be stunning.

We got home about 11 that night but guess what happens when your kids see this in their driveway?



This.







The boys wanted to stay up there all night but the Island King was done with being in the lift so they stayed a few minutes and he told them he'd take them up again in the morning.

Why is it that my house is the only house on the street that has stuff like this happen in the front yard?



They got a much better look around during the day.



The Youngest has declared himself helper on all lift shoots from now on and wants to know if there is a Nifty One Hundred.

As much as the Island King hates the fifty there's no way he'd get into a one hundred!