Thread: Road pics

so is this rice grown in paddy's or do we grow rice differently here ?

Originally Posted by Nightblade

so is this rice grown in paddy's or do we grow rice differently here ?

The ground out that way is black adobe clay, it used to be curved, contour checks, but now it's been laser leveled and straight checks. The water is about six to ten inches deep. They prep the ground, then fly the seed on with planes. When it's mature, they just cut off the water, drain the fields and harvest the rice. When they start cutting it, I'll take some pictures of the harvesters, they are just like the one's they use for wheat, but with bigger tires, or tracks for the muddy ground. Excellent breeding ground for mosquittos!!

Originally Posted by donv

...North Butte...

Wow, can one walk up that?

Originally Posted by Nightblade

so is this rice grown in paddy's or do we grow rice differently here ?

In Paddy's what? His backyard? Kitchen?

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

Wow, can one walk up that?

Yes, and no. The whole range is owned by different people, they don't allow access. You have to have an "in", gotta know somebody. I know people, but I'm not in shape to do it. It's a really trippy place, all the trees are oaks and plenty of poison oak. Big rattlesnakes, the biggest I have seen, was 48 inches long, but, really fat, like the size of your forearm. They run sheep and a few cattle on them, and there's lots of feral pigs. I have an open invite to go shoot some pigs, just haven't been able to take them up on it. It's dryer than a popcorn fart up there now, but it's really pretty in the Spring, really green and they grow lots of Almonds on the lower hills. You can drive all the way around them in a bout an hour or so. Google Earth it, it looks like someone dropped a lump of clay from space, they're just in the middle of the valley, no hills around them. Heck, I may as well drive around them and come up with some more road pics!

Here's a couple pics of the Sutter Buttes, one in Spring, one with rice, taken by someone more gifted than I.

I reckon your Rattle snakes are the nicest snakes on earth...Friendlier than a puppy...No other snake I've ever come across lets you know to back the hell off when you're getting in his space, and in such a musical way too. Any other snake is just gonna go for ya. No warning. Just a Bob's yer Aunty, thanks fer comin', might grab another bite later if you care to come around.


Mick

Originally Posted by MickR

I reckon your Rattle snakes are the nicest snakes on earth...Friendlier than a puppy...No other snake I've ever come across lets you know to back the hell off when you're getting in his space, and in such a musical way too. Any other snake is just gonna go for ya. No warning. Just a Bob's yer Aunty, thanks fer comin', might grab another bite later if you care to come around.


Mick

Nah, don't most snakes kinda hiss and huff and puff? You're right though, rattler's do have a pretty cool warning system. I used to go out of my way to kill them, now, unless they're in a bad spot, (around a camp site with kids and the dogs); I have a live and let live approach. It's not their fault they were born that way, I know a lot of arseholes that deserve a bat to their heads that earned their status. Pretty much, if you don't mess with them, they won't mess with you. I guess you could step on one, but, if I'm in a spot where they might be, I pay attention and watch were I step. The only people I know of that have been bit, were dickin' around with them, usually whilst drunk.

Most snakes hiss and carry on, but you don't necessarily hear that light sound if you have a slight breeze around. A rattle on the other hand, now that is a great audible warning.
I've only stood on one snake unitentionally. That unfortunate mis-step on my part cost him his head.I took it off with a machete, before one of his strikes got through my boot leather. I wasn't going to lift my foot off him while he was that cranky. Other snakes I've pinned down with brooms and sticks and such, to catch them for the more humane purpose of relocation. I live close at hand to a Bushland Reserve, so it's nothing for me to catch them and put them somewhere in there, safe and sound.


Mick

Just had a thought...I'm going to buy a bag of baby rattles and Epoxy glue 'em to the tails of all the snakes I catch. That'll make 'em easy to hear...Then again I think our snakes might be tone deaf and dis-inclined to play an instrument of any sort.


Mick