A few quick snake stories. When I was twelve one of my brothers teenaged friends showed up at our place drunk and with a prairie rattler in a gallon jar and proudly sat it on the dining table. It was already agitated and he began slapping the sides of the jar thring to get it to strike. It wouldn't so the brain surgeon unscrewed the top and stuck his hand inside to slap the glass. I told him he was going to get bit and he said he wouldn't. and didn't. It never once struck him, just rattled and hissed. Eventually he left to take his treasure to someone elses home.

One day we were driving down a freshly graded irrigation ditch, not far behind the big dozer and saw more than a dozen snakes. My oldest son jumped out and caught one. It was a bull snake a bit over five feet long, missing the tip of its tail and an eye. We were sure it had been a pet at one time. It was very human friendly and would sleep in my lap or in the kangaroo pouch of my baja hoodies as I did tasks around the house. We had him for years.

A girl I had been dating and I went for a walk in the River Park. She spootted a snake and went into a tizzy and and I pinned him with a stick and picked him up, trying to educate her that he was harmless and helpful. She would have none of it staying a minimum of 20 feet away. I let him go and watched him slither away.