For the past two days my dear, sweet wife and I have enjoyed the company of our grandson, Will. He has spring break this week so it was a good time to have him over.
Yesterday, we had a plan. We would go out to Lake Pleasant for a picnic and then drive over to the movie theatre to see the film, "Mummies." Then it would be back home for a spaghetti dinner. A perfect day!
We found a lovely spot on top of a hill which allowed us to see much of the lake. The sky was clear, the water blue and a nice breeze made us feel pretty comfortable. After we finished our lunch, we decided to walk back down the road and hike down to the edge of the lake.
Will and I were in the lead with Sherri following us. As we reached the end of the road we suddenly heard, "Ugh, Ugh, UGH!" We turned to see Sherri standing about 10 feet away from a rattlesnake!
Sherri began slowly backing up. I looked around for something on the ground to protect Sherri. But I noticed that the rattler wasn't moving. A slightly closer look revealed that the snake was dead. We weren't sure if it had been runover by a vehicle or if it had been shot. It's head was gone but the rattles were still attached.
Sherri took a wide berth around the snake but not before taking several pictures to send to the grandkids. The whole incident only confirmed in my mind that hiking is very dangerous, even life-threatening. Walking around our neighborhood works just fine for me.
Will said he dreamed of rattlesnakes all night long. I'm not sure I believe him. I think I dreamed about many things last night but none involved a snake of any kind. We've been watching a sitcom called "Raising Hope" before going to bed. It's a silly show which I think led me to have some silly dreams. And I want to keep it that way.
