The first of this article happened in the summer when I was a youngster.
Dale and I were staying at Mama and Papa Tidwell’s home. Freddie Lee, our summer friend, was with us. We went down to the little stream that flowed west between Logan School and downtown Logan.
We had seined in this this little stream before and had caught some little minnows that had a variety of different colors on them. Some had blue color on them and we called them blue horse fish. I don’t know if those little colored fish are still there or not. (If anyone should know, send me an email.)
We carried a little wagon to fill with water and put our catch in and a piece of window screen to seine with. Dale looked after the wagon and Freddie Lee and I did the seining. We had caught a few of the little fish and had them in our wagon. We made another sweep, and this time we came up with a snake. The snake was about 6 inches from my hand.
Freddie Lee and I threw the screen as fast as we could and rushed out of the water. We were very fortunate that none of us were bitten.
We took off up the hill as fast as we could run. Pulling the wagon sloshed out all the water and the little fish, also. And I can tell you we never again went down to that little stream.
The second part of the article was in a recent year.
Rudene and I had purchased some land on Silver Ridge just out from Johnson’s Crossing. We had not walked over the property, and Rudene was interested in seeing the lay of the land. It was summer and the right time for snakes to be out. She kept wanting to go and I finally gave in. But I carried my favorite side arm. I don’t get in the woods without one.
We got about 50 or 60 feet from the car and I had been looking at every stump and every log. Then I saw a big rattle snake stretched out on a log. I stopped Rudene and eased out my side arm. I took careful aim, and POW! Shot him right in the head, and his body slowly slid off the log.
I turned back to Rudene and she wasn’t there. I looked and she was already sitting in the car. She can really move fast when looking danger in the eyes. She had decided not to walk over the property.
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