Rattlesnakes

We were going to go to Jann’s folks in New Jersey this afternoon. But this coastal storm has changed our plans. Maybe tomorrow. I really didn’t look forward to snaking through the Poconos on snow covered roads. I guess you could say, regarding our plans, we were snake-bitten.

Terribly forced segue, but let’s talk snakes. Rattlesnakes. The photos you see were taken last summer at a rest area on I86 just a stones throw from Painted Post. The area is known to have rattlesnake dens and occasionally, rattlesnakes are even found here in the village, generally when they have been flooded from their dens in the hills. The State went to quite an expense to improve the rest area much to our surprise considering the problem And shortly thereafter, voila, a snake was spotted. They closed the rest area for several months after the sighting, then apparently decided that putting up signs along the parking area was enough to minimize their liability.

Growing up in Biscuit Hollow, it was not uncommon for us to see several timber rattlesnakes a year. As I remember, some years we killed 4 or 5. That was before they became a “threatened” species. Maybe that is why they are threatened. We didn't go looking for them. Just in the course of our everyday lives, if they crossed our paths. It was a matter of safety. For the children, if you will. While we were hiking, harvesting hay, picking strawberries, or even playing in our yard or driveway! My mother was even known to dispatch one or two. For the children. It has been several decades since we have seen any rattlesnakes in Biscuit Hollow.

There was quite a local lore behind rattle snakes. They never came down off the mountain to our house area unless it was very dry and the theory was that they were coming to the creek behind the house for water. We never saw any on the opposite side of the creek. They always traveled in pairs. So if we found one, we started looking for the mate, and often found it. If you killed one, you had to cut off the head and bury the head separate from the body. Thus to absolutely insure that the devil never struck again. Rattlesnakes would even strike at you without their head. That I witnessed. It was said that their body didn’t “die” until sundown. We were taught that you didn’t step over a log or rock, you stepped on and out from it, lest a snake was lying under the object. It was always fun to take the rattles in to school to show everyone and the measure of a snake was the number of “buttons” on the rattles. And of course, the length of the snake in inches was an important bragging point. The largest I remember was 54”. But this all makes me sound like a really big redneck, so I’ll deny every bit of it if asked.

Oh. I don’t know if it really tastes like chicken.