Alva Review-Courier -

Several years ago, my son and I found ourselves crisscrossing our yard, toppling trash containers, cement blocks and sundry objects scattered throughout our yard. I gingerly approached these objects, and cautiously upset them, while my son, with shovel at the ready, was poised to attack whatever threat might be lurking beneath.

We were on the hunt for a rattlesnake that had bitten our dog, Suzy Q, while she was locked up in her pen earlier that morning. The awareness that there was something lurking in our yard that could be a threat to my family was, to say the least, disconcerting. Some...