reminising

I went outside this afternoon barefoot and weeded my garden a little. I miss Texas very much but I would never walk outside barefoot in Texas. Two things I absolutely do not miss about Texas is snakes and fire ants. I have not seen either since I have moved here. I hardly ever let me girls go outside and playin Texas, Snakes and fire ants were everywhere where we lived. I'm talking big nasty poisonous snakes!
One time I was very pregnant and very sick. I had a dove aviary in my back yard and I had an ongoing battle with water moccasin snakes who would sneak in and eat my birds! I saw one heading in to the cage and called my manly neighbor to come and get him for me. (My husband is always gone for stuff like this!) By the time he got there the snake had already started to eat my bird and he (my neighbor) just shrugged and said, " I hate snakes, just let him eat the bird, nothing I can do now!" The next time I had problems with the snakes I called a different neighbor and told him a snake was in my little plastic form fish pond in my front yard. He shows up with a shot gun. Uh, never mind I'll get the snake myself. :-) I did get pretty good at killing snakes myself, but I never knew what to do with them after I killed them. We lived too far out for trash pick up at our first house in Texas, I quickly found out they wouldn't burn if I threw them on the burn pile. I usually waited for Brent to dispose of them when he got home.
I had chickens for a while. It was heartbreaking because snakes would go after my chickens, eggs and baby chicks. I hated gathering eggs because there would usually be a snake coiled up on the nest devouring an egg. Once I found 2 poisonous snakes coiled up in my nesting boxes. I called my neighbor- different neighbor, he must have been over 70. This neighbor did not mind snakes. He went in my chicken coop grabbed one snake by the tail and started twirling it around his head like a lasso. I had followed him in to show him were the snake was, I shrieked and crawled out of the coop before I got hit by a flying snake! Safely on the outside, I watched him twirl that snake over his head and snap it on the ground breaking it's neck! Then he grabbed the other snake. They were both pretty long and this one hit the edges of the cage as it whirled around. The image has never left my mind.
Boy I hate snakes!