{"id":6436,"date":"2012-07-10T14:00:24","date_gmt":"2012-07-10T21:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janaremy.com\/?p=6436"},"modified":"2012-07-10T14:00:24","modified_gmt":"2012-07-10T21:00:24","slug":"there-be-dragons-and-sharks-and-rattlesnakes-and-mice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2012\/07\/10\/there-be-dragons-and-sharks-and-rattlesnakes-and-mice\/","title":{"rendered":"there be dragons (and sharks and rattlesnakes and mice)&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Recently I visited a friend in the desert.<\/p>\n<p>It was hot.\u00a0 It was sandy.\u00a0 But it was also full of growing things:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/janaremy.com\/2012\/07\/10\/there-be-dragons-and-sharks-and-rattlesnakes-and-mice\/img_2668\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6437\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-6437\" title=\"IMG_2668\" src=\"http:\/\/janaremy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/IMG_2668-757x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"558\" height=\"754\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For a few hours I stayed at her home alone (while the others were out hiking), and while sitting on the porch I spied a robust amount of bird and insect life including some rabbits and a charming chirping family of quail.\u00a0 There was nothing empty or deserted about that space, and small flowers were everywhere I looked.<\/p>\n<p>Her property is adjacent to the Pacific Crest Trail (a place that&#8217;s been getting a lot of press lately due to Oprah&#8217;s recent Book Club pick of Cheryl Strayed&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0307592731\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=pilgrimgirl-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0307592731\">Wild<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=pilgrimgirl-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0307592731\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/>, which I do hope to read soon). Here&#8217;s an image from the trail:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/janaremy.com\/2012\/07\/10\/there-be-dragons-and-sharks-and-rattlesnakes-and-mice\/img_2666\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6438\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-6438\" title=\"IMG_2666\" src=\"http:\/\/janaremy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/IMG_2666-1024x762.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"558\" height=\"415\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One way or another, as we were planning this trip it became known that I&#8217;d never slept outside without a tent.\u00a0 So we decided that it was probably time to remedy that, and that the desert might be a fine place to sleep under the stars.\u00a0 But there weren&#8217;t many stars out that night, there was a three-quarter moon so bright that everything was quite visible even after the lights were out.<\/p>\n<p>My host provided a cozy air mattress and sleeping bag (it was COLD despite having been into the 90s during the day).\u00a0 Here&#8217;s the view from where we slept, just before sunset.\u00a0 See that moon?:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/janaremy.com\/2012\/07\/10\/there-be-dragons-and-sharks-and-rattlesnakes-and-mice\/img_2679\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6439\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-6439\" title=\"IMG_2679\" src=\"http:\/\/janaremy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/IMG_2679-767x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"558\" height=\"744\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Though we could hear coyotes yapping not too far away and that was a bit unsettling, the night passed without an incident and we had a relaxing breakfast on that spot the next morning as the temperatures began to rise (those biscuits were still warm from the oven&#8211;yum!):<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/janaremy.com\/2012\/07\/10\/there-be-dragons-and-sharks-and-rattlesnakes-and-mice\/screen-shot-2012-07-10-at-12-52-53-pm\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6440\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6440\" title=\"Screen shot 2012-07-10 at 12.52.53 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/janaremy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Screen-shot-2012-07-10-at-12.52.53-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"610\" height=\"548\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>So perhaps you can understand the cold chill that went up my spine when my friend sent me this photo later.\u00a0 Yes, that&#8217;s a four-foot desert rattlesnake.\u00a0 And it is crawling under the foundation of her house just a couple of feet from where my pillow was two nights before:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/janaremy.com\/2012\/07\/10\/there-be-dragons-and-sharks-and-rattlesnakes-and-mice\/photo-5\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6441\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-6441\" title=\"photo\" src=\"http:\/\/janaremy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/photo-1024x764.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"558\" height=\"416\" \/><\/a>Euw.<\/p>\n<p>But it&#8217;s funny&#8230;I&#8217;m just starting on the 9-man season for outrigger canoeing and am spending a lot of time bobbing around in the ocean on the weekends.\u00a0 So everyone&#8217;s been telling me their scariest shark stories.\u00a0 And I was in the water a few weekends ago when there was a 15-ft Great White spotted nearby in La Jolla.<\/p>\n<p>But you know what?\u00a0 I&#8217;m never thinking about sharks when I&#8217;m in the ocean (jellyfishes occasionally, because getting stung is a drag, but not sharks).\u00a0 The ocean is so big and so fun that I can&#8217;t help but jump in and swim.\u00a0 There&#8217;s very little that will dissuade me from getting wet.<\/p>\n<p>And you know what else?\u00a0 My desert-living friend told me yesterday that her house had a few mice in the cupboards, and that scared me far more than did her rattlesnake photo.\u00a0 My whole body shook for a few seconds as I realized that I&#8217;d spent two days there.\u00a0 In her house.\u00a0 With the mice.\u00a0 I&#8217;m glad I didn&#8217;t know that beforehand.\u00a0 And I&#8217;m glad there&#8217;s a snake to take care of those mice.\u00a0 And I&#8217;m glad that I have some commitments on the ocean most weekends for the next few months.\u00a0 Because I think it might be awhile before I head to the desert again.\u00a0\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently I visited a friend in the desert. It was hot.\u00a0 It was sandy.\u00a0 But it was also full of growing things: For a few hours I stayed at her home alone (while the others were out hiking), and while sitting on the porch I spied a robust amount of bird and insect life including [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,28],"tags":[103,104,105,106,107,108],"class_list":["post-6436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deep-thoughts","category-world","tag-anza","tag-cheryl-strayed","tag-desert","tag-pacific-crest-trail","tag-rattlesnake","tag-wild"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>there be dragons (and sharks and rattlesnakes and mice)... - PilgrimSteps<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2012\/07\/10\/there-be-dragons-and-sharks-and-rattlesnakes-and-mice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"there be dragons (and sharks and rattlesnakes and mice)... - PilgrimSteps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recently I visited a friend in the desert. 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