Another crisis in the boon docks
What a way to end a library meeting!
I'm sure you city slickers are getting tired of all my blogs about life in the country, but it takes a stout heart to live out in the middle of the boon docks.
Last week we had to break up a library board meeting, so that I could go help my BFF dispatch of a copperhead in my driveway.
Several conditions made the task tricky. For one thing, my cell phone kept sending his calls to my voice mail, as he stood in the dark and watched my three dogs bark at the striped critter.
"Oh," says you. "Why didn't you just let the snake crawl off on his way? Leave him alone!"
"Yeah?" says I. "You don't know much about copperheads, do you?"
Most country folk hereabouts would rather have to face a rattlesnake than a copperhead. Everybody knows that a rattlesnake will take off, if you give him a chance. Believe it or not, they're not fond of confrontations--unless you corner them.
The copperhead, on the other hand, never seems in a hurry to vacate the premises--despite barking dogs or screaming humans, or anything short of a shotgun blast. A friend of mine once said that a copperhead would crawl right up in your bed with you, if given a chance.
The snake in my driveway was going nowhere.
Another thing that made the situation tricky was the fact that our brilliant orange friend was lying about a foot from my friend's pretty red Jeep!
I stood on the porch with my shotgun, thinking, "Okay....How do I shoot the snake and not the car?"
Oh, it was the old familiar pattern, but this time I at least had good light in the driveway, since my buddy has fixed all my motion sensor lights. I've been in worse situations, for sure, trying to avoid the snakes in the dark.
How did it turn out? Well, I'll tell you. That snake made a strategic mistake. It moved forward in front of the right front tire.
I can't tell you how this confrontation turned out, for several personal reasons...but, suffice it to say that the crisis was avoided.
I hope our next library meeting will not conclude under such dire circumstances!
From the boondocks of Southeast Missouri, this is your rural reporter Madeline, thankful for another another day of life.
Comments
- -- Posted by ksteinhoff on Thu, Apr 26, 2012, at 8:56 AM
- -- Posted by swift on Thu, Apr 26, 2012, at 3:44 PM
- -- Posted by Madeline1 on Fri, Apr 27, 2012, at 7:07 AM
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