10:14 AM
December 27, 07

When I was a teen,
Richard Lapidus and I were way into
reptiles and amphibians.

We were great reptile and amphibian collectors.

We use to go down to Eric Sontag's Pet store where
we would buy mice to feed his snakes.

I introduced Richard to my great discovery.
On the Football Field of Fairfax High School,
there was a herd of toads.

So one night, we climbed the fense with flashlights
and went hunting. We were out to make a killing in the
amphibian market.

As we were looking around on the football field for the toads,
the police came.

They wanted to know what we were doing.

They came into the field and talked to us.

I told them what we were doing.

They had bigger flashlights than we did, so they helped
us catch some toads.

Richard was a bit surprised by all this.

I have always gone to make friends by telling the truth
whenever possible and enlisting the help of others.

Maybe this comes from my connections in the Essene Stream,
the same stream where other Essenes have walked,
such as Dr. Bernard Jensen and the Professor Szekely.

It is all one stream, with a few toads thrown in.

I believe we had a whole bag of toads.
We sold them to Eric Sontag for 5 cents each
if I recall.

We had a Vision of creating a place called Atlantis Unlimited
when we grew up. It was going ot be a building, or a place
where we would have all kinds of species of animals.

That was before they made places like the Wild Animal Park.
I guess they stole our idea, or maybe they just went into
the same stream where we "swum" and got the same idea.

When we were the age to drive, Richard got a car.
We would go to Borrego Springs. We loved nature.
Our excuse was the pursuit of reptiles on the roads.

Behind it all was just the idea of going to nature.
The excuse was some idea to catch something.

I got very stuck on this catching goal oriented mentality.

I was frustrated that we would be spending so much time
looking, looking, looking. I thought the goal was to catch.
Maybe the goal was just to look and be in nature.

One late night, my goal orientation got the best of me.

There up ahead in the headlamps. I saw it! It was
a snake. Oh My God! There it was!!!!

I jumped out of the car. I wasn't going to miss this catch!

It had it's head up above the ground. It was a rattlesnake!

Richard had bought this tool for catching dangerous snakes.

It was kinda a grabber, about three feet long.

Richard grabbed that rattlesnake, and we stuck it in a pillowcase
as was the procedure among the Great Snake Hunters of the World.

Our Career was really shifting into High Gear.

That night, we camped out in a tent on the ground.

I kept having creepy crawly nightmares. I got really scared.

I was afraid the mate of that rattlesnake was coming to get
his wife.

Ouch, was I scared!!!

The next morning, I told Richard. I said we better let that snake
go before we got in serious trouble with the animal kingdom.
I mean reptile kingdom.

We went back to where we caught that snake.

I made Richard a nervous wreak with my anxiety.

I had no fear when I jumped out of the car the night before.
Now I was all fear. I was yelling.

Finally we were able to let that snake go without getting bite.

Our Reptile hunts lasted into part of high school.

Then, I guess I retired, but Richard when on to greater adventures.

He wrote a book a couple years ago about his snake tales.

Eventually, his visits to the Old West, led him to another pursuit,
Old Western history. He is now an expert on the Old West.

Such went out of the picture one of my first Careers:
Goldman the Great Snake Hunter.

I retired to other pursuits, and became Your Enchanted Gardener.

Your EG
Leslie