Snake Tales

Today I spotted a 5 foot long chicken snake in the yard. While I was gone to get the hoe, Dora found it and started picking at it and the snake began to strike at her. She stayed far enough away to avoid the bite. I dispatched the snake with my trusty snake hoe. After it was dead Dora tried to pull it around and shake it. I picked it up by the tail to toss it away where Dora could not drag it back into the yard. On my way I saw a black(?) snake that was about 3 feet long. Coming back I saw something teeny tiny race into the leaves. I believe it was a 2 inch long copperhead.
Then about twilight I went for a walk down the road and saw a 3 foot rattler that someone had run over. It could still move it's tail a little .
Now before you snake lovers start in one me, let me state my position. I do not go out in the woods and fields and hunt snakes to kill. That is their home and I let them have it. But if I find one in my yard, at my home, I am going to kill it if I can. It's just my policy and there is nothing anyone could ever say about the usefulness of snakes or their place in nature that will ever cause me to change my mind. I just do not like them, and am afraid of them, even non-poisonous ones. I do not want to be bitten. I would probably die of heart failure.

On another topic, the weather was beautiful today and this evening when I was walking, I was just thankful for all the beautiful things around. The honeysuckle was perfuming, the birds were all twittering and getting settled for the night. The crickets began to sing and a frog began calling. As it edged on toward dark, a nightjar started calling. I am so lucky.