BE AWARE

Patti and I just got back from the hospital, where one of my employee's is currently in ICU for a rattlesnake bite that occurred yesterday pm. He will be ok, they say, but the whole thing was avoidable I think.
It seems that my friend and his wife and 7 year old daughter were at the stock tank yesterday dove hunting, and Mike shot  a dove, the daughter, Leslie, charged out to get the dove, and dad was right behind her, and the snake, which I have a photo of but can't get to upload, struck Mike just above his snake leggings that are about knee high. This snake was enormous, about 5 feet long I think. Let this be a lesson learned the hard way, don't let your kids field your doves for you, do it yourself, and be aware, a big snake can strike above your knee, we are lucky  that little one did not get it first, but it looks like she just put the snake on alert by running by it first.
I will never forget the time I came home from work, when we lived at our ranch at Burnet, and Patti was working in the flower bed in front of the house which lined the sidewalk, I quickly saw the 3 ft rattlesnake coiled up in the corner of the steps into the house and the house, and ask her what she was going to do, when she got closer to that snake. Her reply was, WHAT SNAKE?
She was squatting down working on the flower bed, and did a backwards squat jump 3 feet or so when she saw it. Of course, I sent it to the great snake in the sky, but Patti has never been able to pick out snakes or wildlife in their natural settings, like I have been blessed to. I have trouble seeing copper heads, but a rattlesnake has always stuck out like a sore thumb to me, thank the lord.
Anyway, please watch for them, they are usually avoidable, if you go slow enough, the estimate from the hospital is about 5k for the treatment and hospital stay, I told him I would take care of his deductible, as he is an hourly employee, and pay him while he's out.
Ya'll have a good safe weekend, and thanks for stopping by.

Suerte