Tag Archives: desert rat

On Creativity, On Hiking in New Mexico, On Integrating Word and Image, On the Creative Life, On the Writing Life, Walking All Day On Stone

Dancin’ Feet

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Mouse? Packrat?

I vote for a jumping rodent. See how the footprints are clustered? Maybe a kangaroo rat? The soil is clay. It was sloppy mud a couple of weeks ago, now hard as ceramic. This dance should last until the next good rain.

On the Creative Life, On the Writing Life, Walking All Day On Stone

Stinky Rattler?

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VerticalSnakeDB143Best discovery: the source of that organic-metallic, pungent odor we call “snake smell.”

It has an oiliness, and always seems to occur near strata of barely-altered Cretaceous swamp not compressed enough to be coal. Yet I’ve heard many a desert rat say, “That’s rattler smell.” It has always made me aware of my ankles.

But it’s a plant. Thick, small, dark green leaves in pairs on a red stem. I couldn’t find it in Weeds of the West, but it looks like a vetch.

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