Mount Asbury............................................................................by Daphne Orr 

 Greene Hills................................................................Dean Hauser 

I remember having a drought many years back. Because of it being so dry everything that lived on the mountain above Greene Hills Camp was making its way down to the stream that ran through the property to get at the water. Well this included every critter you could think of, especially the snakes. I remember relocating snakes all summer, rattlesnakes included. We probably caught and relocated a couple rattlesnakes each week that summer, it was becoming routine. Well my nephew was working for me that summer and he calls me on the radio saying we have another snake to relocate. The snake in question was reported to be in the boys shower house trying to cozy up to one of our counselors as he was doing his daily duty. My nephew and I arrive at the shower house and greet a couple of counselors whom are concerned with their co-counselor trapped in a stall by the snake. We proceed cautiously into the shower house and locate the snake, about 5 foot long and dark brownish black, looks like a black snake, but this one does not have the right markings? I am puzzled and ask the counselors what they think; they look at me like I am supposed to know. Well, all snake handling references in scripture put aside, we start to pull the snake into an old galvanized trash can with a rake and that snake puts up a fierce battle, shaking its tail like it has rattles and striking at the rake. We get very respectful of this snake real fast, especially since we have no idea what kind of snake this is. We finally get it into the garbage can and put the lid on it, pop it in the truck that is loaded with garbage and scrap lumber and jump in the truck to relocate it to the wilderness area about a mile away. We were both racking our brains to come to a conclusion of what kind of snake is this? Why does it act like, and kind of look like a rattle snake, but without rattles? When we get to the place we plan to let it loose we are both anxious to get rid of it. I grab the can out of the midst of the trash in the truck, set it on the ground, and give the can a good thump to stun the snake, remove the lid and tip the can over to empty it. Nothing comes out and my nephew goes white as bright white 92 paper. Somewhere we lost the mystery snake and the only logical place it could be is in the back of the truck with all the scrap lumber and trash. We hesitatingly start to empty the truck carefully since we still have no idea what kind of snake it is. We are both nervous and jumpy as we empty the truck but the snake is nowhere to be found, so we put all the scrap and garbage back into the truck. We decide to head back to camp, so we get into the truck. I throw a bag of garbage on the floor between me and my nephew with the intent to put it in the dumpster on the way back. As we are traveling back to camp the bag starts moving; my nephew jumps up on the seat and I slam on the brakes and jump out of the truck. We are both scared thinking the bag has the mystery snake in it, but it ends up that the gear shift just vibrated the bag as we were traveling. We never found the snake and we don't relocate snakes without a tight fitting lid anymore. I believe God has quite a sense of humor and we definitely entertained him that day.