It's snake time in the garden, be careful.

[applestar]

I would freak out if I saw snakes that big, let alone a rattlesnake....

I was reading an old favorite -- Lad: A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune -- with my kids, and there is a chapter in which Lad is bitten by a rattle snake while protecting a disabled child. I know how it ends but this chapter always makes me cry. The story is set in northern NJ. Happily, some of Terhune's stories are available on-line from Project Gutenberg and Librivox.

[garden5]

When I think about it, out of all the things I've seen in my garden, I don't think I've ever come across a snake. Although, I really don't see any snakes on my property, either, so perhaps there aren't too many in my immediate vicinity.