My Cemetery Story: Driving from Colorado into southwest Nebraksa my husband and I are conversing about about a cemetery we were going to visit when he exclaims "what in the world is that!!". Laying across most of our lane of traffic on the two lane highway is a hugh rattlesnake. I thought we were going to go off the highway as he dodged around it to keep from running over it. (I can remember the day when my mother would see a snake on the roadway and if she didn't think she killed it by running over it the first time she would grind those gears in our old Chevy and back up over - not even caring if there is a car behind us - and then drive over it again just to make sure that that "devil" was dead.) During the next five miles we saw five or six more rattlers making their way across the roadway and believe me those sandhills rattlers ARE big fellows. My husband, Larry, asked "are there going to be snakes like this in the cemetery where we are headed? If so we are going home!". Years away from my birth place in western Nebraska had dimmed the memory of these dangerous yet beautiful creatures. I'd not thought about an encounter with snakes in the cemetery but told my husband not to worry we would handle the situation. We arrive at the cemetery at Oconto, NE., as usual Larry takes one side and I take the other looking for that lost relative. As I'm walking along I see a movement to my left and about 10 feet away is a rattlesnake making it's way away from me. I look to make sure there is not another one close by, turn to walk away and at the same time I yell "snake". My friend Jesus can walk on water but Larry can walk in the air. Back at the car Larry asks me for my solution of how to comb the cemetery in safety and I related a scene from an old movie about two ladies walking through a cotton field and one was banging two old pans together. The other ask her what she is doing. The lady banging the pans states that she is scaring the snakes away. Larry starts laughing, picks up two empty pop cans from the trunk of the car and is dancing around banging the cans together. On the nearby farm road an old battered pickup goes by and the driver is looking at us with a questioning expression. My aunt who lives near by is at the local restaurant having coffee with a friend (might mention the town population may be all of 63 people). The driver of the battered pickup who is a local farmer walks in laughing and states "you won't believe what I say this morning on the way in. These two crazy people from Illinois are up there in the cemetery banging cans together and dancing around the headstones. What is this world coming to!" No, my aunt didn't let on she knew those two dingbats were her family. Carolyn Woolsey Wilkerson ===== Carolyn Woolsey Wilkerson carolynw46@yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/