I love rattlesnakes? Seriously? Do you think I’m insane? The daughters are not allowed to answer that question. Remember I’m the one who screamed and ran a half mile in the other direction the first time I ever saw one.
Over the years I’ve encountered so many that I’ve come to terms with them. I’ve even forgiven the one that bit me on the ankle. I don’t panic unless they’re coiled up or shaking their rattles at me. The other day when I was hiking, I saw one that obviously had issues.
ELBEE The snake had issues? Isn’t that like the pot calling the kettle black?
I say it had issues because it was out crawling around on a cool morning. Apparently it didn’t get the memo that it was cold-blooded and not supposed to come out until it was warm. I considered taking a photo to show the grandkids but it slithered away before I could get a shot. It was probably going home to get a sweater.
ELBEE Is that supposed to be funny?
It reminded me of a time years ago when I was hiking with Cody, a Golden Retriever who pre-dated the Doods. Unlike the Doods and Riley, our Golden Retriever, none of whom know how to fetch, Cody was obsessed with retrieving. He would fetch until he dropped. If we were watching television, he would roll a tennis ball across the table for us to throw.
RILEY & THE DOODS Is there a point to this? Should we be offended?
As I was saying, I was hiking with Cody when a couple of inexperienced hikers came walking up behind us. Okay, I’m judging but they were carrying large cups of coffee from Starbucks and the woman was wearing a dress so you tell me. Then they asked me if I knew where the trail went.
Following us, they also wanted to know if there were any snakes. It was starting to warm up so I said there was a good chance. I also told them about Technu, a soap that would wash away all of the poison oak they had walked through in a nearby creek bed.
Sure enough, five minutes later there was a huge rattlesnake stretched across the narrow trail. Since there was thick brush on either side, there was no easy way around it. I told the coffee drinkers that we should just leave it alone and wait until it slithered away.
Instead, the man decided to throw a rock, not to kill it but to scare it away. Cody saw the flying rock and jumped over the snake to retrieve it! I yelled for him to stay. The “hikers” turned around and ran. Considering the coffee cups and the dress, they were surprisingly fast.
THE DOODS And you wonder why we don’t fetch.
