It's a shame that people are so frightened of creatures that are basically harmless, even the poisonous ones. My current neighbors have about 5 kids and built a playground right next to a creek. I was out walking a long time ago and the parents were gathered by the creek like stupid cavemen, looking for copperheads. I engaged them in conversation briefly before I got too pissed off to continue speaking. In hindsight, I should have said, "If you're afraid of snakes, don't build your fucking house in snake country. Go move to Atlanta, you herpephobic yuppies, and leave the snakes alone."

Rescuing that snake was almost a religious experience for me. I was shaking like crazy, my knee gave out and I almost fell on the way back to my car...blood on my hands, I can still feel it. Either I really like snakes or something cosmic happened that day. Like God or somebody made me take that different route home so that I would arrive in time to get the snake out of the road 60 seconds before one of my asshole neighbors came ripping over the hill at 50 mph in his truck.