Marcy Hege wrote:
Just a word of caution...the snakes are still out. Hubby found (and killed) a
copperhead this mornnig on the driveway. With leaves falling, a copperhead
could be hard to see and accidentally stepped on. Even though they are
lethargic with the cooler temps, they are still out and about. Watch your step!

Please, please, please before killing a snake in the triangle area, make
sure it is a venomous snake. Of all the snakes that I have looked at
(after people have killed them) I have yet to find it to be what they
thought it was. Most often, it is some kind of water snake which look a
lot like cottonmouths but are non-venomous. Snakes are useful creatures
and it's sad to see them killed indiscriminately.

I know a lot of people are phobic about snakes. However, this can be
conquered. I know because I was phobic about spiders. Scream and
freeze in horror until someone came to smash it (it might jump on me was
my concern about getting close enough to kill it!) was my normal reaction.

I still don't like them and they give me the shivers if I think too long
about it but I can now scoop up small ones I find in the house on a
piece of paper and relocate them outdoors instead of demanding that they
be killed. Outside, I just tend to avoid them and actually co-existed
with a large black, yellow and white orb weaver spider in my rose bush
and even kept the s.o. from killing it at one point this fall.

Susan
shsimko at duke dot edu