by Jan Fielden
We were cleaning the yard, raking, cutting, etc., and suddenly I heard The Colonel say there is a snake…so cool, calm, and collected. My eyes darted here and there as I searched for where it was. We were, at the time, cleaning under a bush…not my favorite place because I always think I am going to find a snake. This has now made my fear come true! I don’t scream and I’m not the type to panic but I just want to know where the danger is.
Suddenly, I saw The Colonel turn and start stomping his foot and I knew where the snake was. It was a small one but in my mind I asked where is the Momma; this must be her baby! The snake was in a shallow place where the Beagles normally lay and it was hard for him to get a “good stomp” in on it. It kept squirming, wiggling, and trying to get away. After a few minutes the snake was still even though I kept my eyes on it to make sure it wasn’t playing possum. Finally, I was satisfied that it was dead, dead, dead.
We loaded the trailer with everything we had cleaned out of the yard and were taking it to the burn pile. While loading I thought to myself, Momma snake may have just crawled in the debris and we are scooping her up to take with us. We got down to the burn pile, I thought that thought one more time and then it was over. I even crawled up in the trailer and pushed the debris out with a shovel and even my foot! Guess I decided if she was in there, she sure wasn’t letting us know about it and wasn’t going to attack us. Oh, well, as I have said many times, there are always things happening at The Red Oak Ranch!!
