Last night, the cat, the coyote and I were on a walk in the pasture when we stumbled upon a giant snake curled up next to a bush. I leapt straight into the air, and pulled Charlie to a safe distance, but the damn cat crouched into pounce-pose right in front of the snake, which, coiled up, was the size of a platter. There are two kinds of snakes here – rattlesnakes and bull snakes, and they look identical except that bull snakes have a pointed tail instead of a rattle. Bull snakes are harmless, whereas a rattlesnake bite can kill a 1000-pound horse.

The snake was making a rattling noise, but a bull snake’s hiss mimics a rattle – it’s one of their defenses. This snake was rattling like crazy, and I was straining to determine what kind of snake it was from my distance of about four feet away but I couldn’t see the end of it’s tail. I was frantically calling to the cat while maintaining a death grip on Charlie who was clamoring to be part of the action.

As the snake’s head rose higher and higher into strike position, it’s tail uncoiled into view and it was pointed. Finally, I could breathe, and that was when the cat decided he was bored with the snake and casually walked over to join Charlie and me.