snake update

Just talked to my neighbor today who said that her daughter ran over a big rattle snake in the road between our house and the neighbor on the other side yesterday. Running over it did not kill it and they got a shovel and cut off it's head - whew, I know, too much information, but get this. They cut off the head and bury it because yellow jackets get in and while eating get the venom and if they sting you, you get poisoned!

The neighbor I was talking to works at the thrift store and we are standing there talking about the snake and the lady behind me says, "I didn't even know there were rattlesnakes here, and I have lived here all my life."

Sightings are rare. Thirty years ago when I lived in Northern California on the 100 acres we knew we were in rattlesnake county, everyone warned us, everyone had a rattlesnake story. It's funny even though the kid's dad saw several in the wild, I never came across one in all my tramping up and down those rock hills. I actually only saw one in all those years and it was coiled up by my back north steps. Just like this one the other day, coiled up by my back north steps.

Let me know if that jogs any meaning for any of you - rattlesnake, north steps, seems a weird coincidence.