Snakes

What is it about boys and snakes?  Or perhaps I should say, what is it about girls and snakes. I know I'm making a generalization and I know lots of countering examples, but back in the old days, as they used to say, there was a difference. Girls despised snakes and trembled while boys wanted to grab them.

The day Caleb was patting this snake, I was feeling so very glad the man holding it had experience and would not let that slithering thing loose.

Once when we lived in Massachusetts and I was gathering big rocks to build a wall, I encountered a snake.  If I've told the story here before, I'm sorry, but it shows my fear of snakes. I would say phobia, but that is an unreasonable fear.

As I bent down to pick up a large stone, the front 18 or so inches of a snake shot up at me.  the rest remained in a coil. He didn't strike. I consider that a miracle. I froze in fear and he just stayed there as still as I was.  Finally after getting a great look at him and somehow mustering enough nerve, I took off running for the house. Once there, I pulled out my snake book (I had two boys at the time)  and identified that fellow. Although it looked exactly like a copperhead, I didn't believe it was . Surely there were no copperheads in Massachusetts. So I called the wildlife department to get some help. Yes, it was a copperhead. I never ever went out in my yard again as long as we lived there.

From what I read in the news these days, I believe all the snakes have gone to Washington, DC.