Where we live in the foothills, it is not unusual for us to have rattlesnakes visit us on our hilltop. This requires us to watch where we put our feet and where we walk. Every spring when it begins to warm up, we know the snakes have come out of their winter holes, and are hunting for a meal.
This past week, I put Bob, our hired man, to work weeding and digging up some junky plants. My wife was getting ready to leave the house. I stepped into the house to talk to her about the rest of the day.
When I started out the back door, I met Bob. He was looking very serious. "What's wrong Bob?"
"I just killed a rattlesnake in those weeds."
"Did you see him first, or did he surprise you?"
"If those weeds hadn't been so thick and heavy, when he struck, he might have hit my boot."
And what is even worse, I walked out through those same weeds the day before to pick some oranges to take in the house. I thought about the idea of a snake being in there, but then decided it was too cool for snakes quite yet.
I was raised on this hilltop, and grew up working on a ranch. We went out into the hills riding, and it wasn't unusual to see a rattler now and then. And you can bet we watched where we walked, especially around places that could hide a waiting snake.
One summer I worked at a boys camp in the mountains as the Wrangler. My job was to care for the horses, pack the boys' luggage from the trailhead to camp, then take the individual counselors and their small group of campers on trail rides. That summer I killed eight snakes in the mountains, and another four when I came home to the ranch in the fall. It seemed everywhere I looked I found another snake.
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