Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion I HATE SNAKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, I am not talking about lawyers, antique dealers, or pump thieves. I am talking about the little scaly critters. I just bought 2 pumps tonight in the little town of Olivet Kansas, and had to load them out of a falling down shed in the dark with my fridge dolly and no flashlight. I then paid the man and headed home with my Banjo music blaring on my new alpine radio.

About half way home my mini van right headlight stopped working – so I turned down the tunes popped the hood stopped the van and adjusted the wires to get it working again darn electrical shorts.... When I went to get back in the van I heard 2 quick little faint rattles behind me. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw a black thing sitting on one of the pumps. When I turned around it was a rattle snake coiled and looking at me. So I got right out of the van. I went to the window and looked again. This is real fun in the dark on a abandoned highway with no flashlight… The snake was a small one, and was over by the passenger sliding side door still on the top of the pump. I opened up the sliding door and he turned and looked at me again, little faint rattle for a second. I just let him look at me as I stepped back into the ditch. I went around again to the driver’s side door and looked in the window. The snake was not going anywhere… This really sucked. I reached in my pocket and got a nickel and threw it at him. The snake unraveled and worked his way out of the side door and into the ditch… I did not see anymore so I drove on.

I had my wife get the mag lights and meet me in the driveway with the gate open, I pulled in and had her look at my feet and around me for more little devils. Nothing so far. I left the van locked up for the night.

Tomorrow I will go threw it real well as well as the pumps… The only thing I can figure is the snake went dormant in the pump and my banjo music woke him up and ****** him off.

Anyone else ever has this happen to them?


Travis E. Towle
Topeka, Kansas

785-357-1004

No, I can't say I have... In fact, I bet NOBODY has had the same experience. You're very lucky, you know. They say that the smaller the rattler, the more potent its venom. You're darn lucky you didn't get bitten loading (or unloading if you hadn't seen it) the pumps.

But, I have had some pretty close calls with rattle snakes in the past. The things have a bad temper.

Wes

I have not unloaded them yet... I have some help coming and will be calling animnal control for some stand by help as well. The net tells me that they tend to winter in packs... That is all I need in my mini van tonight...


Travis E. Towle
Topeka, Kansas

785-357-1004

boy am i glad we dont have them rattlers here in il.really puts some bite into buying an old pump!LOL

Travis that wouldn't be funny on your end but when I read your story I laughed so hard I about got ****** on by myself. Good luck getting your pumps out of the van.

George

When i read you post I lifted my feet up and looked around ........I wood have left the truck there and hitched home..
.........
REX LIKES DOGS

Dueling banjo's from DELIVERANC ?
That was the DEVIL !
LOL
db

OTFLMAO !!!! I am sorry Travis its just when i read your story i was picturing it in my head , and if it was me i would have been going out the door thru the window. Who needs to waste time opaning the door!!

I'M glad your ok.

Well that gave me a good laugh. Glad you were not bitten. I thought I was the only one that had stories like this. I cold picture myself in the same boat.
Brandon

I in fact had a similar incedent this summer, when I was cleaning out my garage. I had crawled under a work bench to remove a milk crate full of pump parts, and found myself nose to nose with a copperheadedrattlemocasin! I don't know what kind of snake it was, but to me every snake is a copperheadedrattlemocasin, and I don't care what kind of animal rights person you are, but if it is a snake and in my house or garage it's a dead snake. Liam hates snakes too!

I'm with Rex, they would have found the truck still running on the side of the road.
Now I know why I don't collect pumps!!!

WHAT A BUNCH OF WUSSERS! AQUAELVIS SHOULD GET A GOOD LAUGH FROM THIS POST! LOL.....SSS-SSS-SSSS-SSS-SS!

I SAW A SNAKE IN THE WOODS THE OTHER DAY WHEN EXPLORING. IT WAS MOVING AWAY FROM ME SO MY THOUGHTS WERE "GOOD YOU GO THAT WAY....I'LL GO THIS WAY!"

DOC @ TAG.WEST

I want them around my house. They keep the rats and mice in check from the woods behind me. Growing up the son of a biology teacher, snakes, turtles and frogs were about the only pets we had!

That reminds me of a story about an American 6 sided pump I bought this past summer. Me and the owner had to wrestle this pump out of a flower bed so I could lay it down on my tire. I kinda checked the pump over when I untied it from the tree to make sure there were no bees or hornets or wasps around it. The pump didnt have skins and the cylinder was half full of what looked like a big mouse nest. We got the pump loaded into the back of my pickup truck and I had grabbed ahold just under the jar base and centered it inside the tire and made sure the tire wasnt resting on the glass. For some odd reason I looked down and found a small Hornet nest just 4" of where my hand had gripped the pipe frame. There were 4 hornets on the nest and not one of them came after me. I told the owner and he told me that the "mouse" nest was actually an old Bumble Bee nest but had been abandoned years later. I looked closer in the glass and sure enough there were dead bumble bees mixed in with the packing. Got the pump home and two-three weeks later the hornet nest hatched inside my friend shop. Scared the #$%& out of him one morning and they were flying around his shop, but the flew away when he opend the door.

Happy Pump Hunting!!

Easy G. Butler

Man that would have freaked me out!!I also had a snake encounter a few years back.I was at our lake home in northern Wi,Tomohawk,I ended up buying a fry 117 and a wayne 60(good score)as I loaded up the wayne in the pickup,a black snake which I beleive was just a small grass snake came slithering out of the bottom of the pump.That took me by suprize,but at least it wasn't in the truck.lol If I was driving when that happened I would have bailed on the roll.lol

[This message has been edited by Petroholic (edited 01-16-2006).]