Rattlesnakes  

'Rattlesnakes'

There's plenty here!  And I've go a healthy respect for them after all the Cowboy flicks I'd seen in the early T.V. era.  The presence of a rattler was sure to scare my pants off.  I've heard that Australia has 9 out of the top 10 most poisonous snakes in the world and the rattlesnake only comes in at number 8.  But that doesn't reassure me.

The first time we went to Mass at Crow Creek, they told us the story of a young girl who was recently bitten at the nearby cemetery - she barely survived!  "Isn't it getting too cold for them now?" I asked in hope.  "Nope - they're more dangerous at the moment because they're sluggish and you can easily tread on them with disastrous results."

With this advice in mind I stepped out for my evening walk.  Kate had decided not to go this time. I walked for over half an hour in a circular path from our little 'farm house on the prairie' and it was then that I heard that awful sound: "drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" !!!!!  I peered ahead of me into the long grass.  "No way - I'm not going through there."  I backed off and tried to skirt the danger zone.  I quickened step, straining my eyeballs to examine the ground below.  It was full of large cracks.  Still that sound - "drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" !!  "Oh, no - were there rattlers down those cracks?  Had I stumbled on 'rattler alley'."  The sound was everywhere.  As I started to give in to mild panic, I gazed upward to see high tension power lines.  "Alright - so that explains it!" 

These monstrosities straddle the prairie everywhere with their tentacles reach out as far away as Texas.  I was relieved to know that no one witnessed this embarrassing episode.

Mind your step,

Regards,

BK and Kate (safely inside)