This is my post for #freewriters 2862 prompt edge of the town hosted by @mariannewst
I love living where I live, but there is always a BUT!
There is a nature preserve at the edge of the town and we live next to it. We can not see another house or business from our yard, even though we only have two acres. I think our property is a rattlesnake highway.
The only bad thing about living here is the number of big rattlesnakes that have come into our yard. I know it does not help that we feed the squirrels, birds, and rabbits when their food is scarce.
I am more worried now that we no longer have the dog that is in the top picture. She alerted us to the last four rattlers. She knew to keep her distance and had a bark like no other bark. When we heard her bark this way, we knew to run toward her.
This one had bitten a rabbit and was looking for it when I saw it. The rabbit had hid in a flower pot and when I found it, it did not take long, and it was dead.
My husband eats them, I help him clean them but I do not eat them. One time I was holding one in the middle while he pulled the skin off. With being dead and no head, it kept striking me on the arm, it was hitting me hard enough that I jumped with each hit. I finally told my husband I could not do it, it was freaking me out.
Fried is the best way to cook them, I made a roast once and it was a mess with bones.
The last one the dog found was too small to eat, it was three foot long and my husband put it in a garbage can and took it out on the preserve and released it. He does not kill anything that he does not eat. When he let it out of the garbage can, it did not run off, it was pissed and curled up, shaking its tail at us. We left it alone. This one made number 10 since we lived here.
Husband fished again today and had a good day with 50 pounds of trout.
photos are mine