Rattler!

Annie and our two guests (my niece Anna and her friend Felicia) were out walking the property today with the dogs when they noticed Radar, one of our border collies, stalking up to a cedar tree. His sister Echo was quietly padding around the other side when suddenly a loud rattling broke out. Once you've heard the incredibly loud sound of a rattlesnake, you never forget it.

Annie shouted for everyone to run immediately, and luckily the dogs followed. No one was hurt or even seriously threatened, but it's a sobering reminder that this isn't Disneyland or a santized suburban neighborhood. There are coyotes and snakes, scorpions and poisonous spiders, running around in and amongst the more picturesque critters.

I was at work at the time, which is probably good because I'd likely have been "encouraged" to go find and kill the snake otherwise. I shot two of them at our old 5 acre place, but that was unavoidable -- they were in amongst the dogs and horses in a much smaller area. Out here there's room for everyone to go about their business, and 99 times out of 100 a snake will leave you alone if you don't bother it. They're just trying to get along in the world, the same as us.

It was an exciting way to end the visit for Anna and Felicia, though I'm pretty sure they won't miss that particular kind of excitement when they go back to college. The only snakes they have to beware of there are teenage boys, who are plenty dangerous enough for most anyone.