[LadyX]

"Had to do it, snakes can bite cattle."

How well I know, hg.
The mid-section of Florida used to be heavily cattle country, including where I was.

We had 1,000 acres, using only about 5 of them (my Dad was a consulting engineer), and allowed a friend who was a rancher to place his cattle on the land.

For that reason, we were not allowed to fire our .22 rifle unless it was at a threatening target, the bullet apt to carry a mile and possibly strike live objects.

The concept of respect and common sense in use and handling of weapons was a given for our generation.

It so happens that rancher later sold much of his vast holdings to create the city of Port Malabar!

I used to go along sometimes with them and others in their family for branding, and had my own horse.

[WVNan]

Sorry I had to skip out on everyone. The snake stories are "blood curdling". I've chopped a few of them to pieces with my hoe in my time, but I prefer not to have to. I guess there may be a few timber rattlers in W.Va, but I've not heard of any Copperheads. Those are nasty things we had so many of in Tenn. Cottonmouths too. I once had a tug of war with a rat snake over one of my chicks. He had it and I wanted it back. I got the chick but he got the leg. Had to dispatch the wee peep.