Yes, it’s a horrible picture. Sorry.
On Monday Chrissy went to the trail to walk/run like she does several times a week and just missed stepping on a small snake. That was a little creepy for her Northern girl heart, but she was tough and kept on plodding. After several minutes she came upon a very large snake that she said was bigger around than her arm. That really freaked her out, and she decided to turn herself around and head back at a faster pace. In her haste, she came up very fast on a snake all coiled up and standing up, showing fangs and ready to strike.
I had sent her out the door with pepper spray, but she had left it in the van. She ultimately navigated around it and it left her queasy for the rest of the day. But she is a trooper and got right back out there on Wednesday (and saw another small one).
Moving to TN has been an adventure in many ways. All summer I have looked for snakes everywhere I go. I’ve only seen one dead one on that trail, and almost every time I walk out of my house I’m thinking about them being around (one night a teenage girl knocked on our door after dark and told us that she had just seen a large snake in our driveway). I took some consolation when I read this this week.
There are 50,000 deaths worldwide from venomous snakebites reported each year. Of those, only 12-15 are in the United States, and within Tennessee, only 4 deaths have been reported since 1960. The venomous snakes of Tennessee are not as lethal as the snakes of states, such as: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and Texas.
It also said that the fall and spring are more active during the daylight hours. We’ll watch our step.
