Rattlesnake!!

[Patrick W.]

Spotted a very cute baby rattler in Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa, CA over the weekend. He was
just basking in the sun on a trail. I nearly ran him over but fortunately the trail was wide enough
that I was able to maneuver around him, then stop and grab a stick to shoo him off the trail.

Anyone every run over a snake? This guy was too little to have gotten me if I had run him over
(well, at least I don't think he could have struck high enough). But I can imagine coming around a
blind corner fast and bopping over an adult - might be disastrous; or at least very painful for all
parties involved. Scary thought.

 

[Jonathan Bond]

Patrick W. wrote:
> Spotted a very cute baby rattler in Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa, CA over the weekend. He
> was just basking in the sun on a trail. I nearly ran him over but fortunately the trail was
> wide enough that I was able to maneuver around him, then stop and grab a stick to shoo him off
> the trail.
>
> Anyone every run over a snake? This guy was too little to have gotten me if I had run him over
> (well, at least I don't think he could have struck high enough). But I can imagine coming around a
> blind corner fast and bopping over an adult - might be disastrous; or at least very painful for
> all parties involved. Scary thought.
>
>

Seen any whipsnakes lately?

Jon Bond

 

[Patrick W.]

"Jonathan Bond" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
>
> Patrick W. wrote:
> > Spotted a very cute baby rattler in Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa, CA over the weekend. He
> > was just basking in the sun on a trail. I nearly
ran
> > him over but fortunately the trail was wide enough that I was able to maneuver around him, then
> > stop and grab a stick to shoo him off the
trail.
> >
> > Anyone every run over a snake? This guy was too little to have gotten me
if
> > I had run him over (well, at least I don't think he could have struck
high
> > enough). But I can imagine coming around a blind corner fast and bopping over an adult - might
> > be disastrous; or at least very painful for all parties involved. Scary thought.
> >
> >
>
> Seen any whipsnakes lately?
>
> Jon Bond
>

If you mean garter snakes, yes! But not up there. I see plenty of beautiful little guys called San
Francisco Garter Snakes (not sure the latin name). They're a brightly colored endangered species
living all over the area. I see them down around Pacifica and in the Santa Cruz mountains.

-Patrick

 

[Bb]

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 21:10:15 GMT, Patrick W. wrote:

>> Seen any whipsnakes lately?
>
> If you mean garter snakes, yes! But not up there. I see plenty of beautiful little guys called San
> Francisco Garter Snakes (not sure the latin name). They're a brightly colored endangered species
> living all over the area. I see them down around Pacifica and in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Well, it looks like we need to update some of those who haven't been here awhile. Its a quaint
little tale.

Sur Vandeman of Nuttingham has proclaimed to the world that the whipsnake is endangered because of
mountain biking. He came to this odd conclusion when he found a dead whipsnake on a logging road
(frequented by trucks). When the mountain bikers didn't believe him, he cornered a "famous
herpetologist" in a bar, and he considers that ample verification. For this he deemed himself the
whipsnake's savior, and was awarded the "Looney Maroon" for his insanity.

So it came to pass that the whipsnake became the a.m-b mascot, even though the majority of us have
never seen one.

And the traditional a.m-b greeting is: "seen any whipsnakes lately?", to which the truely old-school
will reply: "of course, I'm a famous herpetologist!" That second part requires a bit of caution, of
course.

--
-BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)

 

[Huw Pritchard]

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 21:39:12 +0000, BB did issue forth:

> So it came to pass that the whipsnake became the a.m-b mascot, even though the majority of us have
> never seen one.

Until I came to AMB, I didn't even know that such a thing as a whipsnake existed. I still don't
really know what one is.

> And the traditional a.m-b greeting is: "seen any whipsnakes lately?", to which the truely
> old-school will reply: "of course, I'm a famous herpetologist!" That second part requires a bit of
> caution, of course.

I didn't know what a herpetologist was either.

--
Huw Pritchard Replace bounce with huw to reply by mail

 

[Patrick W.]

"Stephen Baker" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Patrick says:
>
> >> Seen any whipsnakes lately?
> >>
> >> Jon Bond
> >>
> >
> >If you mean garter snakes, yes! But not up there. I see plenty of
beautiful
> >little guys called San Francisco Garter Snakes (not sure the latin name).
>
> The correct answers, FYI, are:
>
> 1. "Yes, I'm a famous herpetologist!" or
> 2. "Yes, I squashed acouple on the way here...."
>
> HTH,
>
> Steve

Ahh. Some inside joke I don't get. Monte Python or something?

 

[Penny S.]

Patrick W. wrote:
> "Stephen Baker" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Patrick says:
>>
>>>> Seen any whipsnakes lately?
>>>>
>>>> Jon Bond
>>>>
>>>
>>> If you mean garter snakes, yes! But not up there. I see plenty of beautiful little guys called
>>> San Francisco Garter Snakes (not sure the latin name).
>>
>> The correct answers, FYI, are:
>>
>> 1. "Yes, I'm a famous herpetologist!" or
>> 2. "Yes, I squashed acouple on the way here...."
>>
>> HTH,
>>
>> Steve
>
> Ahh. Some inside joke I don't get. Monte Python or something?

oh man, you must be very new here. Maybe the moderator will explain the joke to you.

penny

 

[Patrick W.]

> oh man, you must be very new here. Maybe the moderator will explain the
joke
> to you.
>
> penny
>

I'm just trying to share my excitement and report an honest sighting! Oh well. Someone
explain please?

 

[Huw Pritchard]

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 21:31:10 +0000, Patrick W. did issue forth:

> I'm just trying to share my excitement and report an honest sighting! Oh well. Someone
> explain please?

Stand in front of a mirror. Say Vandeman five times.

--
Huw Pritchard Replace bounce with huw to reply by mail

 

[Bb]

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 22:42:19 +0100, Huw Pritchard wrote:
> On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 21:31:10 +0000, Patrick W. did issue forth:
>
>> I'm just trying to share my excitement and report an honest sighting! Oh well. Someone explain
>> please?
>
> Stand in front of a mirror. Say Vandeman five times.

You forgot the part about sticking your thumb up your butt and whacking yourself in the forehead
with a big stick. Do this enough, and you will see Vandeman.

--
-BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)

 

[Bb]

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 22:46:50 +0100, Huw Pritchard wrote:

> I didn't know what a herpetologist was either.

It has the added bonus that it sounds like it has more to do with social diseases than snakes.

--
-BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)

 

[Penny S.]

Huw Pritchard wrote:
> On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 21:39:12 +0000, BB did issue forth:
>
>> So it came to pass that the whipsnake became the a.m-b mascot, even though the majority of us
>> have never seen one.
>
> Until I came to AMB, I didn't even know that such a thing as a whipsnake existed. I still don't
> really know what one is.
>
>> And the traditional a.m-b greeting is: "seen any whipsnakes lately?", to which the truely
>> old-school will reply: "of course, I'm a famous herpetologist!" That second part requires a bit
>> of caution, of course.
>
> I didn't know what a herpetologist was either.

your Latin must suck, then.

any have Bomba's FAQ link to help this poor guy out?

penny

 

[Patrick W.]

> Well, it looks like we need to update some of those who haven't been here awhile. Its a quaint
> little tale.
>
> Sur Vandeman of Nuttingham has proclaimed to the world that the whipsnake is endangered because of
> mountain biking. He came to this odd conclusion when he found a dead whipsnake on a logging road
> (frequented by trucks). When the mountain bikers didn't believe him, he cornered a "famous
> herpetologist" in a bar, and he considers that ample verification. For this he deemed himself the
> whipsnake's savior, and was awarded the "Looney Maroon" for his insanity.
>
> So it came to pass that the whipsnake became the a.m-b mascot, even though the majority of us have
> never seen one.
>
> And the traditional a.m-b greeting is: "seen any whipsnakes lately?", to which the truely
> old-school will reply: "of course, I'm a famous herpetologist!" That second part requires a bit of
> caution, of course.
>
> --
> -BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)

Aha! Now it's crystal clear. I generally just ignore MV & related posts, so no wonder I missed it.

-Patrick

 

[John G]

BB wrote:
> So it came to pass that the whipsnake became the a.m-b mascot

right down to having the Alameda Racer (aka "Whipsnake") printed on our (extrememly limited
production) Team A.M-B headbands. I had mine sewn to my winter Patrol jersey/jacket so I couldn't
loose it ;-)

http://www.shavings.net/images/bikes/ice/jacket/back_lg.jpg

 

[Bb]

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 22:20:46 GMT, Patrick W. wrote:

> Aha! Now it's crystal clear. I generally just ignore MV & related posts, so no wonder I missed it.

This was quite a few years ago, so unless you've been around a long time you would have missed it
anyway. Occasionally Vandeman blurts out somethat that is just so plainly ludicrous that its really
funny. My favorite wasn't even on this NG - it was when he recommended the sci.environment newsgroup
that they should use roadkill for dissection experiments. You can imagine how well that went over in
a science newsgroup!

I read through literally thousands of his posts over many years, waiting for those golden moments.
But really, almost all he does is repeat dogma, so I eventually killfiled him, too.

--
-BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)

 

[Lightweight]

"Patrick W." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Spotted a very cute baby rattler in Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa, CA over the weekend. He
> was just basking in the sun on a trail. I nearly ran him over but fortunately the trail was
> wide enough that I was able to maneuver around him, then stop and grab a stick to shoo him off
> the trail.
>
> Anyone every run over a snake? This guy was too little to have gotten me
if
> I had run him over (well, at least I don't think he could have struck high enough). But I can
> imagine coming around a blind corner fast and bopping over an adult - might be disastrous; or at
> least very painful for all parties involved. Scary thought.
>
>

Me and a biking bud were out taking one long 17 mile hike in the Appalachian Mountains here in VA
and nearly stepped on one. We went off trail and were on a small rock formation when I heard the
rattle and looked down to see the snake begin to coil up in between his rocks about 3 feet from my
leg (he was also out toastin' in the sun). We back-tracked back to the trail and were slightly more
careful after this encounter. He was a full adult, I can't tell for sure how large because he coiled
up and I didn't stick around, but I would estimate 3-5ft based on the fact I have no knowledge about
snakes other than rattle = bad, coil = bad, and green (in my neck of the woods) = harmless.

 

[Westie]

"Penny S." <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Huw Pritchard wrote:
> > On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 21:39:12 +0000, BB did issue forth:
> >
> >> So it came to pass that the whipsnake became the a.m-b mascot, even though the majority of us
> >> have never seen one.
> >
> > Until I came to AMB, I didn't even know that such a thing as a whipsnake existed. I still don't
> > really know what one is.
> >
> >> And the traditional a.m-b greeting is: "seen any whipsnakes lately?", to which the truely
> >> old-school will reply: "of course, I'm a famous herpetologist!" That second part requires a bit
> >> of caution, of course.
> >
> > I didn't know what a herpetologist was either.
>
> your Latin must suck, then.

Yeah. Mine sucks too. I musta looked at a world map for a 1/2 hour and still couldn't find
that place.
--
Westie

>
> any have Bomba's FAQ link to help this poor guy out?
>
> penny

 

[Mike Vandeman]

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 22:46:50 +0100, "Huw Pritchard"
<[email protected]> wrote:

.On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 21:39:12 +0000, BB did issue forth: . .> So it came to pass that the
whipsnake became the a.m-b mascot, even though .> the majority of us have never seen one. . .Until
I came to AMB, I didn't even know that such a thing as a whipsnake .existed. I still don't really
know what one is.
. .> And the traditional a.m-b greeting is: "seen any whipsnakes lately?", to .> which the truely
old-school will reply: "of course, I'm a famous .> herpetologist!" That second part requires a bit
of caution, of course. . .I didn't know what a herpetologist was either.

See how much I've taught you?
===
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to humans ("pure habitat"). Want to
help? (I spent the previous 8 years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)

http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande

 

[John G]

Mike Vandeman wrote:
> .I didn't know what a herpetologist was either.
>
> See how much I've taught you?

Touche'