I read the other day that the  number of “unusually powerful” snakebites had increased for the second consecutive year. So if your’e like me, this is not good news. 

Apparently, Scientific American  reports the venom in certain rattlesnakes, here in San Diego County, are becoming “extra-toxic." Like Toxic wasn't enough...It's like the Mountain Dew of rattlesnakes

We're home to four species of rattlesnake: the speckled, the red diamond, the sidewinder and the southern Pacific, which is a subspecies of the western rattlesnake. Me on the other hand is a subspecies of the western wuss...I  hate snakes.

My fear goes back to college, where I almost sat on a water moccasin. And all my friends who were with me made it quite clear that had that happened, the prescribed method of extracting the venom by sucking it out meant one thing. “Yeah,,,Uh Chip? You’re dead.”