West Texas "fun" as a CFI

Jeanie

Jeanie

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Alpine, TX
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Jeanie
Well, I've been instructing out of Ft. Stockton now for about 2 1/2 years and have been having interesting times. Mostly to do with wind and rancher type conversations..... Flats because of mesquite and such.... BUT,

Today I had a first... As my new lady student, first lesson with me, and I were walking back into ther terminal building we looked down as we reached the door and saw a baby rattlesnake just inside of it. We stopped, looked down at it to make sure, yep, it's a rattler. I asked what she thought we should do, kind of to get a notion of how she thinks and she said, "let's go around to the other door" pretty calm, no squealing or upset. So we went around and hollered " Blake, you got a baby rattler by that other door" and went on into the lounge to do the post brief.

Ha! I told her "see you always learn something, now we know to watch where we're walking even inside"

I was pleased she was so matter of fact about it.
 
I forwarded this my spouse, who is a West Texas girl just like that. :)
 
Sorry. Next time l'll ask my student to take a picture... Silly me.
 
When I was about 13 I lived in West Texas. A friend found the rattle from a dead rattlesnake, and we discovered that it made good fun to sneak up on other kids who were playing outside and shake the rattle, while hiding out of sight. I never saw kids get alarmed and run away so fast!
 
NoHeat said:
When I was about 13 I lived in West Texas. A friend found the rattle from a dead rattlesnake, and we discovered that it made good fun to sneak up on other kids who were playing outside and shake the rattle, while hiding out of sight. I never saw kids get alarmed and run away so fast!
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Did that once behind some barn cats that knew that sound - it was hilarious to see 6 cats instantly levitate straight up without moving...
 
A frequent passenger of mine is DEATHLY allergic to bee & wasp stings, and I can't count how many times I've killed or released a stinging bugger from the airplane on preflight.


I will NEVER own a brightly red or yellow collored airplane cuz they are like a bee magnets here lol.
 
Jeanie said:
Well, I've been instructing out of Ft. Stockton now for about 2 1/2 years and have been having interesting times. Mostly to do with wind and rancher type conversations..... Flats because of mesquite and such.... BUT,

Today I had a first... As my new lady student, first lesson with me, and I were walking back into ther terminal building we looked down as we reached the door and saw a baby rattlesnake just inside of it. We stopped, looked down at it to make sure, yep, it's a rattler. I asked what she thought we should do, kind of to get a notion of how she thinks and she said, "let's go around to the other door" pretty calm, no squealing or upset. So we went around and hollered " Blake, you got a baby rattler by that other door" and went on into the lounge to do the post brief.

Ha! I told her "see you always learn something, now we know to watch where we're walking even inside"

I was pleased she was so matter of fact about it.
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As much as I hate to say it, if that happened in Dallas a lot of guys would have wet themselves.

Sounds like you have a great future pilot in training.
 
Speaking of snakes...

I went for a hike recently at Castlewood Canyon SP (SE of Denver). Near the visitor's center I spotted a small snake which was about the diameter of my finger and maybe 12" in length. I took a picture of it. It definitely wasn't rattling. Later I mentioned seeing a snake to one of the workers in the visitor's center and he said he thought it could be a baby rattlesnake. What do you think? I googled pictures of rattlesnakes and the coloring is similar.

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fun with snakes!
 

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Everskyward said:
Speaking of snakes...

I went for a hike recently at Castlewood Canyon SP (SE of Denver). Near the visitor's center I spotted a small snake which was about the diameter of my finger and maybe 12" in length. I took a picture of it. It definitely wasn't rattling. Later I mentioned seeing a snake to one of the workers in the visitor's center and he said he thought it could be a baby rattlesnake. What do you think? I googled pictures of rattlesnakes and the coloring is similar.

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Absolutely it was. And there are more dangerous really than the adults. It doesn't look that small in this picture.
 
Everskyward said:
Speaking of snakes...

I went for a hike recently at Castlewood Canyon SP (SE of Denver). Near the visitor's center I spotted a small snake which was about the diameter of my finger and maybe 12" in length. I took a picture of it. It definitely wasn't rattling. Later I mentioned seeing a snake to one of the workers in the visitor's center and he said he thought it could be a baby rattlesnake. What do you think? I googled pictures of rattlesnakes and the coloring is similar
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I think that when they prep to strike it's a real good idea to step back and stay away. The smaller the snake the stronger the venom on the poison ones...and that one was.
 
The new problem out here is they've stopped rattling as a warning. My rancher kid student told me they think it's because of the feral hogs.

His ranch isn't very big he said, just 25,000 acres or so.
 
Jeanie said:
Absolutely it was. And there are more dangerous really than the adults. It doesn't look that small in this picture.
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That's because I used the zoom feature and there's nothing to show scale. At first I thought it was just a piece of rope someone dropped.
 
Yep, baby rattler. I'd rather deal with a 3-4 footer than these little ones. I've has several friends comment in the not rattling. Personally, everyone I've run across lately were rattling.
 
OK so when I see something like this again I will walk away rather than become fascinated. I really wasn't that close compared to its length as it also made me uncomfortable that it was looking at me. I can see how some people, especially kids, might try to pick it up or tease it, though, and it was probably within 100 yards of the visitor's center, not out on the trail somewhere.
 
Jeanie, keep alert especially August and September. A couple of years ago I set the olympic high jump record just before a night flight. As I was rolling the right hangar door open, there was a large rattler in the "tracks" of the door. He made a strike motion towards my left foot, I felt contact but don't think the teeth ever got into the boot. My tow bar now has a permanent dent after rectifying the situation:eek:

Ironically, that is the ONLY flight in 500 hours that I had boots on rather than sneakers or those water shoe type sandles.
 
Yeah, Dan, boy you were lucky! I always carry a big flashlight and look very carefully before stepping out of my RV, crossing the ramp and in the hangar everywhere.
I bet you jumped straight up and sideways all at once like a kangaroo rat. I've done that too but the snake was sound asleep coiled up in a road I was hiking. I nearly stepped in the big fat middle of it. Glad I was looking down at the time. If it had bitten me it would've been very bad as I was about 100 miles from help.

Ok, for all you other than west Texas people I want you to know that we have nice and lovely things here too....
 
Jeanie said:
Me too, ha ha.... And, I have a king snake as a pet in a 50gallon aquarium (sans water of course)

His name is "headset" because of his markings.....
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I've been to an FBO that actually had a (pretty big) rattlesnake in an aquarium. They also had the front half of a wild boar mounted at floor level so it looked like it was charging.

No, this was not in west Texas, it was in Greenwood, Mississippi.
 
Jeanie said:
Yeah, Dan, boy you were lucky! I always carry a big flashlight and look very carefully before stepping out of my RV, crossing the ramp and in the hangar everywhere.
I bet you jumped straight up and sideways all at once like a kangaroo rat.
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I now open the hangar door with my feet as far from the rails as possible (which looks unusual - and is probably the worst leverage position). CFI friend that did my flight review last week asked what the deal was when he saw me opening the hangar. Have never had it happen (critters under the cowl), but on the Tiger we can fully open each half of the cowl and I always peek in pretty good before putting my hands in the engine compartment on pre-flights.

Jeanie said:
Ok, for all you other than west Texas people I want you to know that we have nice and lovely things here too....
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Yeah, like scorpions, tarantulas, vinagaroons!:hairraise::D:lol:
 
I grew up in Odessa, and spent time all over West TX. Alpine, Fort Davis, Big Bend, Marfa, Monahans, Kermit...mostly hiking in the country though, not in the towns. We used to go rattlesnake hunting with a weed sprayer full of gas. We found rattlesnakes everywhere...even in our backyard. It wasn't too unique then, but they still got your attention, especially when walking through tall grass and you heard the rattling right there with you, and you weren't sure where the business end of the snake was. I've never tried harder to levitate myself...
 
SteveR said:
I grew up in Odessa, and spent time all over West TX. Alpine, Fort Davis, Big Bend, Marfa, Monahans, Kermit...mostly hiking in the country though, not in the towns. We used to go rattlesnake hunting with a weed sprayer full of gas.
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What does the gas do? Did you flick a match shortly after? <asking seriously>

In high school we hunted them at night on the road to Cattleman's Steakhouse (famous in our area). Theory was they're so fast they can actually attempt to strike the bullet ... we had mostly head shots so it seemed to make sense. Used to have a bunch of cowboy hat bands and belts.

Deming NM airport had an aquarium also with rattle snakes last year, haven't checked if they still have them. That same Cattleman's has a little desert zoo adjacent to the restaurant and they have a pit full of them there (not a petting zoo obviously:lol:).
 
danhagan said:
I now open the hangar door with my feet as far from the rails as possible (which looks unusual - and is probably the worst leverage position). CFI friend that did my flight review last week asked what the deal was when he saw me opening the hangar...
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You DID look a little silly the way you opened that door, Dan. But I'm glad I was standing few feet back when you told me why!

:D

Mike
 
Sounds like this new student should fit right in, maybe in that new eagle you might be flying soon.
 
Oscar, or whatever his name is in Alpine should have answers for you. he does have a collection of king snakes. BTW alpine is my new favorite airport.
 
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