In our church in Lovell, WY back in the 80’s, we had a lady who was born about the turn of the century. She was married to a man twenty years her senior who rode with Tom Horn, the last man executed by the territory of Wyoming. She was a feisty and interesting woman. She often talked about growing up at Beaver Flats which is east of Lovell about 6 miles. She talked about the many rattlesnakes and how they would strike out at the wagon when they passed.
On Sunday morning, September 30, 2018, Pete, Randy and I were in Lovell for church on our way to elk hunting on the Big Horn Mountains. Before church we had coffee at Jackie Minchow’s who is a 90 year old widow. As we had coffee with her we asked about her childhood.
She was born and reared some 40 miles SE of Gillette, WY. Her father was a trapper and would be gone sometimes weeks at a time. Her mother handled the home affairs and the rearing of Jackie and her sister.
I asked about snakes and she immediately had stories to tell. She told how one time her mother returned on horseback from an errand and saw the girls sitting on the edge of the porch waiting for her. She yelled for them to stay put. When she got near, she saw a large rattlesnake laying under their feet. If they would have jumped down to run to greet her, one would have likely been bit. She reported that two cousins died from snake bites.
One day her Dad went out to rid the yard of snakes and killed 34 – 34 in one morning’s hunt!
Another time her mom came home and tied the horse to one of the house logs protruding at the corner of the house. A snake struck at the horse and the horse jerked back pulling the log out of the wall.
Janet and I have friends who moved into a vacated house on a ranch near Brewster, NE, and found many snake skins in the basement. There were always snakes around the house so the mom would go shoot the snakes so the kids could play near the house. One day she found a snake coming out of the toilet (imagine that!). That tipped them off to the snake den – it was in the septic tank! They had the tank poisoned and that ended the snake mess.
OK – be thankful that your home and yard that are mostly snake-free.
And, be reminded of the importance of this lesson: teach your children to obey and to obey the first time! If Jackie hadn’t learned that lesson, we might not have had coffee with her a couple of weeks ago.
a PK Musing 
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