Out here in Harney County we have creatures that like to bite, like the horse that bit my backside while I photographed the Sitz homestead, or the cow that wrapped its mouth around my camera lens, and there was the time when a cow dog nibbled on my head, does that count?

Anyways, this is an aerial image I shot over Harney County of the winding water ways that push up through cattle ranches that   in an abstract way appear to be a series of snakes from above.

I chose this image for this story because as much as I wish I had an image of women wearing stovepipes around their legs, I just don’t have that content, nor do I know who I would get to agree to wear stovepipes around their legs just for an image.

Nevertheless, this is a story I came across while researching stories about Claire McGill Luce.

Once upon a time…a young Claire went fishing with a few girls from school but the local boys told them that there were rattlesnakes in the water. So Claire, being who she was, a very smart girl, came up with the idea to wear stovepipes around their legs to protect them from getting bit by the snakes and so the girls fished all day while the boys watched.

I think those boys just wanted all the fish to themselves so they told the girls this story, but they were unprepared with the genius of Claire!