It struck hit me yesterday. I walk with my head down a lot. Like, almost all the time. As a kid and now as an adult. I guess it really bugged folks when I was little, people would tell me “Don’t be so sad, look up!” Shoot, I wasn’t looking down because I was sad, I just didn’t want to walk on stuff.
I was born in Florida, way down on the tip. Fire ants hurt when they bite, and you sure don’t want to walk on a fire ant hill. Look down, avoid being bit. Later, we moved to Indiana, on an acre-sized lot just outside of town. No fire ants, but there was clover in our yard – and bees in the clover! Look down, avoid stepping on bees and getting stung. We moved from there to a little farm – lots of stuff to not step on there! including boards with nails sticking out. Oh, and smelly poop. Look down, look down, look down. Doesn’t mean I’m sad – I just don’t want to walk on something that will hurt me.
Yesterday, I was walking down our driveway. It’s a long drive, it’s dirt covered with gravel with slight tire ruts. As usual, I was looking down. Guess what I saw? Hint, this is Nebraska and it’s been warm over the last few days. <Jeopardy music> That’s right, a rattle snake! It was in one of the ruts, its body flattened out and long, as if it were trying to soak up some heat (yesterday was a bit overcast and cool for a change.) We stared at each other for a moment, then I took a step back to the house to get hubby and his gun – but first I checked this snake’s tail. There are bull snakes, nice, rattle snake killing snakes, that often look like rattlers. I sure didn’t want to kill a bull snake. Uh, not a bull, this critter had about 6 buttons, all shiny and round.
Ok, I walked up to house, not far at all, hubby got his snake killer and I went out to show him the snake. hmm, where was the snake? I walked about to where I thought it had been, hubby cautiously went past me, down the drive a bit. I wondered if I overshot the snake’s location, so I turned and looked behind me. Oh my goodness! we had walked less than two feet from it and had been looking for it – and never saw it! About this time one of the dogs decides she should keep us company and passed within inches of the snake’s head. I guess because it was still cool, the snake did not strike. I hollered for hubby to come back, I pointed and he still could not see the thing until I pointed out the grass clump just next to the snake. (The photo is from my friend and neighbor, Bill Coe, of another snake a few summers ago.)
A few shots later, the snake was pierced. Odd thing about snakes is that they have really slow metabolisms. It’s backbone was broken in more than one place, yet it continued to move. It can still bite and inject venom, as the reflexes remain for most of a day. Hubby used a shovel to pick it up and take it to the burning barrel – it would be a real tragedy if after dead, the thing managed to bite a curious cat or dog.
So I guess I will continue to keep looking down.
