I about got a black snake with the weed eater the other day. I don't have problems with copperheads until the fall. Those are some mean little devils.

we have seen 3 small garden snakes in our flower beds.

Last weekend, we saw a small snake on some grass in our front yard that had black-ish markings on its back (perhaps diamonds, but i didnt linger very long to look!) and it rattled at my husband (he hadn't seen it and almost stepped on it). It was right after that cold night we had last week, so maybe it was a little slow-moving and hadn't got out of his way.

I hadn't realised there are rattlesnakes here! We have a lot of ivy on our property (less and less as we keep ripping it out, but the neighbors' lots are covered) and a small creek across the street from our house. I'm not looking forward to meeting a copperhead!