Yesterday I planted the two whole frittalaria bulbs, but I still had some little ones and pieces I wanted to get into the ground. I went out to plant them while it was still relatively cool. I put some on each side of the front porch and took the rest to a scab patch beside the raspberry compound [see photo left]. I then
went to place my shovel and the milk box I had used for the bulbs on the kitchen porch beside the blue cooler. That’s when I heard the soft rattle to my right. That’s when I started calling for Mike.
went to place my shovel and the milk box I had used for the bulbs on the kitchen porch beside the blue cooler. That’s when I heard the soft rattle to my right. That’s when I started calling for Mike. 
Mike grappled with the snake for quite some time, unable to get a firm grasp on him. “We need those tongs of your dad’s,” said Mike. Yeah, what happened to those, anyway? The shovel wasn’t going to work and neither would the hoe. We had to keep our distance because the snake was striking. “Maybe we should just kill this one,” I said to Mike. “We might have to,” he agreed.
Then I suggested the empty milk box and Mike was able to scoop him (or her) into it. I took Nellie into the house while M
ike carried the snake to a spot in a field some distance from the house.
ike carried the snake to a spot in a field some distance from the house.My dad used to say that snakes came in pairs. He would be especially careful for awhile and even look for the second snake. Mike says he has heard that, too, but has never found it to be true.
-- Another snake story added to the annals of Kathy Dobson Warnock.
(I baked an apricot pie in the cool of the morning. Mike is riding the Gilbert Grade on his bicycle.)
