Snake and Rock House

[catmandewe]

Jason and I went out to play in the mud this weekend.
On the way there we were killing a little time in Homedale, Idaho and found this house on one of the back streets. It looks to be mostly petrified wood, but there are some agates and jaspers mixed in there. There were no trespassing signs all around so I only took pictures from the pickup.
From the street out front, notice the BBQ pit and the rock piles in the back yard.


From the side of the house


The back part between the house and the back shed, notice the rock fence with the stone pickets on top.


Then we were onto Graveyard Point.
Had to leave the pickup at the bottom of the hill and we learned how to walk on 10" tall mud shoes all the way up the hill. We did find a pile of dirt to play in and while I was digging a hole, I unearthed this little snake. I was throwing agates out of the hole and I almost grabbed him and threw him in the bucket.


I have not ever seen one of these before, anyone know what kind of snake this is? He is probably about 12 inches long and it was kind of cool so he was fairly docile. I used my pick to pick him up and move him out of the hole, he kept looking like he was heading back our way, so Jason relocated him over to another suitable hole a little ways away.


On the way home we drove through a carwash for about 20 miles, the worst rain/hail storm I have ever driven in, and it almost completely cleaned my pickup off, just left mud on the running boards, but the rest looked real nice!

Was a good weekend!
Tony

[mohs]

I like stone structures
but man!
that house needs a different DOOR!
lousy door for such a solid structure !

Here's a pic of a ramada up in the mountain of Phoenix
the silouette is of my girlfriend from England
I always thought it was cool shot



great pics Tony !
someone will know what kind snake that is *L*

[mohs]

man and that snake know its rocks!

[Sabre52]

Tony: My best identification would be the Great Plains Ground Snake, a subspecies of the Western Ground Snake. Very cool find! I've never even seen one in person before.......Mel

[Tweetiepy]

I'm in awe of the rocks that are just laying around like that - I've never seen rock like that in the wild - all ours are solid gray!

as for the snake. yuck! but at least he didn,t bite

[BuiltonRock]

Nice Tony! Thanks for sharing!!

John

[adrian65]

WOW, what a house! That is beyond my imagination! To build a house out of pet woods, agates and such!

Adrian

[Bejewelme]

Catman:
We should buy that house, the house that RTH bought!!! You can keep that freaky snake!!!

[Bikerrandy]

My first thought on that snake was kingsnake, but it is in fact a Great Plains Ground Snake. Very cool!!

[sitnwrap]

I bet there is a great couple of stories about how that house came to be built and the one who built it. That snake is really colorful. Looks like you both had a lot of fun.

[agatemaggot]

Neat little Snake, cool house, but, you are right, the door looks like an after thought !

musta been winter commin on and they threw it on there just to closer up !

[SteveHolmes]

That is really Cool Tony! The House is something else, and that Snake would have scared the CRAP outta me. I don't know if I'd been able to continue the rockhunting knowing those things were nearby. I love the 1st pic of the snake though with all that Agate laying around. Thanks for posting the pics. When you going back to buy the house??
Steve

[free4rms]

Bikerrandy nailed the ID on the snake exactly. I checked with a herpetologist friend of mine and here is what he said:

<<It has a common name – Ground Snake – which leaves some to be desired…! Scientifically it is Sonora semiannulata. Usually not over a foot or so long, eats invertebrates, and in Idaho known only from south of the Snake River, so far as I know.

Where did the picture come from? If you can get a good location and it is in northern Idaho, this would be a valuable record.>>

Vance

[Bikerrandy]

Mel actually ID'd it, I just simply looked it up. Snakes are a big part of my life, the most that I've had at one time was 28. I'm down to 2 right now, a Royal Python and a Savu Python. Snakes are cool ;D

[getkoozie]

Hey did u sell this house i want to buy it my bugged is 1,50,000$

[Tonyterner]

Thanks for the pics Tony. Don't you have a saw big enough to make a slab for the front door? ;D

[catmandewe]

Kind of funny how things come around. This house was later torn down and all the rocks were moved into the custodians driveway out of town, he kept them for a few years until he called me to come buy them, I hired a semi to move them to my rock yard where they now reside! So in a way I did go buy this house!!

I will try to get a photo added of the pile now.

Tony

[catmandewe]

Here is where the rock house resides now. Lots of cool stuff in there.
This is about half the pile, this pile extends for about another 20 feet off to the left but this is the only photo I had available on my phone that even showed this pile.

Tony

[knave]

I’ll cover shipping for a box of that “rubble”. Lol.

[orrum]

Oldie but very interesting. It was a crime to tear that house down! The owner should have sold it as a house and let someone fixer up. At least the road CV is went to you Tony and not the landfill.