Last night, as I walked my dog, Roxy, in Liberty Canyon, I noticed her sniffing something in the street. I hadn’t been paying much attention to the ground, sort of lost in thought. I looked down as she recoiled away and realized she was sniffing a snake! The snake was small, I wasn’t sure it was a rattlesnake, but I wasn’t going to take a chance, so I pulled her even further back. The snake, however, hadn’t moved an inch, not even a blink. I was pretty sure it was dead, even though it was squished or anything. I looked at it for a long time, walked away, came back a couple of minutes later, and it still hadn’t moved at all. I got home, told my husband Peter about it, and he decided to go check it out himself. He asked where it was, I told him Park Colony Court on the street. He came back five minutes later, yes, it was a rattlesnake, and no it wasn’t on the street on Park Colony Court, it was on the sidewalk! So, I guess it WASN’T DEAD! He went back up with a shovel to kill it, and then it started to coil and rattle and strike. The shovel was too short, he couldn’t get to it without being bitten, and it slithered off into the night. I guess the moral of the story is this….if a snake looks dead, and seems dead, it probably isn’t dead but just enjoying the warm sidewalk on a pleasant summer evening. I would say Roxy dodged a bullet big time. I mean the dog was nose to nose with this snake and she didn’t get bitten. A lucky night for us!
