When we went up Meditation Mount, there were signs warning that ‘tis the season’ and the picture of a rattle snake next to these words left us in no doubt that it was wise to keep a close look out as we walked around. Any slight movement in the grass on either side of the path had us jumping so we were almost relieved when we reached a point where the pathway opened up into more open ground just before we got back to the car. Suddenly, and with Phil striding in front of me, I heard an unfamiliar sound and then I saw it. Before I could get my words out, I managed to pull Phil back and we stared in fascination and amazement at the coiled up ‘clump of grass’ we thought we had seen a few feet in front of us. We were so concerned that a rattler would ambush us from the cover of the sides of the pathway, we hadn’t even considered that one might be waiting for us right out in the open in the middle of the path. It wasn’t happy and after a fair amount of coiling and rattling, it slide off into the undergrowth. We can laugh about it now but we also won’t forget the lesson we learnt from the ‘what if’ scenario.