Hi All,
We celebrate St.Patrick’s day a little differently in Ireland, here are some facts for ya’all!
- We wear Shamrock (It has 3 leaves, not 4). St. Patrick used it to explain the Holy Trinity
- St. Patrick was not Irish, he was born in either Wales or France
- No Irish person has ever eaten Corned beef and Cabbage! The Irish were the main exporters of Corned Beef, we can’t stand it and ship it out of Ireland
- It’s not mandatory to wear green in Ireland on St.Patrick’s day, pinching someone could get you hit
- It’s St.Patrick, not St.Patty or St.Pat
- There are no snakes in Ireland – Snakes are cold blooded - it’s too cold.
- Potatoes originated from Peru and Chile
- Riverdance was created by an Englishman – we are off the hook
- Items you cannot buy in Ireland include – Lucky Charms, Irish Spring, Killians Non-Alcoholic Irish Beer, Corned Beef and Cabbage – see #3
- The Czech Republic drink more beer per capita than the Irish, but the Irish spend the most on Beer / Wine / Spirits
- When the Irish are not drinking they are writing and inventing
- The Irish were the first to legally produce whiskey
- Guinness was invented by an Englishman
- More people live in Georgia than in Ireland
- Ireland has been ruled by the English, French and Scandinavians (Vikings)
- The Irish have invented – Radiotherapy – Yes, luckily for everyone in Elekta, we invented that for you. Lunar Charts (300 B.C.) don’t believe the Myans, The Beaufort Scale, Induction Coil, Hollow Syringe, Seismology, Stethoscope, Guided Missile, Submarine, Nickel-zinc battery, Portable defibrillator and we even discovered Pulsars
- The Irish have won the most Nobel prizes for literature
- Craic in Ireland means good conversation, not drugs.
- Ireland is the only country in the world where windmills turn clockwise; in every other country, they turn counterclockwise.
- The harp is Ireland’s official emblem. Ireland is the only country in the world to have a musical instrument as its national emblem.
Enough.
Slan,
AINDRÉAS
So I moved from Belfast, Northern Ireland to Atlanta, GA almost 10 years ago. In that entire time I had seen lots of snakes, but from behind glass at the Zoo. I did see a baby Copperhead at my cousin house, but had no idea what type of snake it was. He scooped it up with a shovel and launched it today’s the nearby forest presumably to a much happier life.
As I mentioned in an earlier post I just add a new Serpentine belt to my Jetta, only for it to come flying off and tear up pretty much anything that had not been repair while I was the owner of the vehicle. Little did I know that Serpentine would become the theme for the week.
Rat Snake
The next day (well, late evening to be exact) I stepped out of the front door to the porch only to see what I thought was a huge rubber snakenested in the middle of my sons toys. Thinking that it was rubber I was thinking about kicking it or lifting it and throwing it at my Mother-in-Law who had also just joined me on the porch. Luckily the snake decided to poke its head up a give me a queer sardonic look. All I couldthink was, “What would Saint Patrick do?”. As I didn’t have a staff to beat the snake with I quickly retreated to the middle of the garden. Forsome reason I decided to take a picture of the beast, then buckled over in two laughing as my aforementioned Mother-in-law had found a hugestick and proceeded to beat at the snake. Luckily for the snake she was lacking accuracy. The snake made the best decision of the day and madea hasty retreat over to our neighbor’s house.
So I send the picture from my Crackberry to my e-mail and go online for a second snake hunt. Within twenty minutes I have it down to about 2-3 species, but just to be sure I e-mail to gradeareptiles@aol.com (I found this on a forum). Within a few hours I get a reply.
“It’s a Rat snake- ok they’re pretty common in your region. Not dangerous at all. They may bite if you try and pick them up but are NOT venomous. If you want to move him along, use a broom. They eat lots of mice, rats and moles. Farmers love having them around”
Harmless or not, I am prepared for the next invasion. I have a broom handy. I also threw down a ton of Cayenne pepper (apparently the snakes hate this as they can’t use Vicks or Zircan) around the front porch.
