Something unexpected in my flowerbed......

This not 'my snake'------I didn't take the time to go get the camera, but it is one just like it.....

One morning last summer, I was up early and out mulching a back flowerbed with pine straw (pine needles). I was down on my hands and knees placing it just so around the flowers......finishing up I realized some was on the walk way. I went into the house, found the broom and began sweeping at the back porch, making my way around the curvy walk. When I got back to where I had been down on my hands and knees in the flower bed, there was a coiled RATTLESNAKE!!!!!!! I knew immediately, without a shadow of a doubt what kind it was.....when you see those rattlers......I had often wondered if I walked up on one would I: have a heart attack, wet my pants, faint or maybe all three.

My only weapon at hand was the broom in my hand...........my husband was in his study away from the house with the air conditioner running. I did what any red blooded woman would do, I began screaming at the top of my lungs....."EEEEEEEDDDDDDWWWWAAAAARRRRRDDDDDDDD! (EDWARD), just knowing he would never hear me....If I left to go get him , the snake would crawl away...........finally he stuck his head out of the door....I managed to say, "rattlesnake." He said what any man would say, "go get the gun." Now I knew where a gun was, but you gotta put something in it, and I had no inkling where any shells were. I remembered a shovel propped against the greenhouse. He grabbed it and came to my rescue.....not a knight on a white stallion....but a husband with a shovel......after several whacks, the snake was no longer a threat......then I remembered hearing that they usually travel in pairs. For several days, I was very leary when walking outside but never saw another one....... I still look at 'the spot' when I walk that way.....God is good....

In another episode, I'll tell you about my armadillo trapping and my sophisticated equipment.....