After these many years of telling us that wearing seatbelts will prevent us from being hurt in an accident, officials have figured out that not only will they prevent us from being too seriously hurt but... they will prevent accidents also.

For some reason I got to thinking of snakes. Now why in the name of common sense I would think of snakes is beyond me because I hate them with a passion and am scared to death of them. I have always maintained that a snake could not kill me because I would have a heart attack from fear first.

When I was 17 or 18 years old I was logging for a man in Island Park, Idaho. This is where I had the encounter with the bear and I wrote about it about a year ago. I was working with another young man and we stayed up there in the woods for a week at a time. The boss, Lee Kaufman was his name, put up with us two knotheads and was very patient. Each night when we would leave the work area we would ride in Lee's pickup down to where we were camped. Garl, my friend and co-worker, and I would always get in an argument, friendly of course, about who was going to set by the window in the pickup.

One day we were going especially strong as we descended the hill to get in the truck and we noticed Lee stop and was doing something with his shoe. We just figured he was re-tying his shoelace. He stood up and growled, "I am sick and tired of hearing you two argue now get in the truck and let's go." Well, okay Mr. Huffy.

Garl jumped in the middle and I got the door. I had no sooner shut the door when Lee opened his door and threw a snake onto us and said, "Now let's see how fast you can get out!" The snake landed across both of Garl's arms and he just kept it coming my way. I about tore the door of the truck off trying to get out. Poor old snake landed on the floor and slithered out onto the ground. I wouldn't even ride in the cab that night I was so shaken up. Danged onery Lee anyway.

I don't know if you have read the story from Reader's Digest about Snakes in the House. Made me shiver for a long time just to think of what those poor people went through. This fall there have been two instances of the same thing happening near the small town of Sugar Salem, Idaho. In the first story the people discovered them in the basement and in the ceiling. The second story they were found in the laundry basket curled up in the laundry. There many others discovered in other places as well. Can you imagine that poor lady when she flipped her laundry and there lay several snakes? Holy Moly I would have screamed like a little (kid) and would have refused to sleep in that house again.

Mw wife likes to tell the story of me and the snake while we were living in Riggins, Idaho. I had gone out to the garden, we had a beautiful garden, to check something and my oldest son, Kip, had toddled along after me. I seen that snake slithering in the grass, screamed and then told Kip to go get the gun. He ran screaming to his Mother and she brought the gun thinking I had been attacked by an anaconda. I blasted that snake to smitherines while my wife walked back to the house in disgust. Listen, a 12 inch snake can be deadly 'cause size doesn't matter. Turned out to be a harmless garden snake but it looked like an anaconda to me.

Okay, enough of the snake stories. I have the shivers just thinking about them.