Local pet suffers a rattlesnake bite while on a morning walk and new polls indicate growing support for a recreational marijuana initiative on the November ballot

 * ... SNAKES: If you don't believe we are in the middle of rattlesnake season, just ask Carl Moreland. Said Moreland: "My English Pointer Tess suffered a rattlesnake bite at 7 a.m. today while walking along an auto track trail east of Morning Drive approximately half way between Panorama

Drive and Paladino Drive. Should have heeded your warning in your blog about snakes. She is now at the Animal Emergency and Urgent Care at 4300 Easton Drive. They had the anti-venom shots available and she is under their care now and she is doing well. Tess will be wearing her electronic collar on our walks for the rest of the snake season. Other dog walkers in fields may want to do the same."

 * ... OBIT: Making the rounds on social media was an obituary from Richmond, Va., which started this way: "Faced with the prospect of voting for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, Mary Anne Noland of Richmond chose, instead, to pass into the eternal love of God on Sunday, May 15, 2016, at the age of 68."

 * ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "People who make really bad decisions always think, 'I have the worst luck.'"

 * ... MARIJUANA: Is this the year that California voters approve the recreational use of marijuana? That's what the polls seem to reflect, indicating that a November ballot initiative will be approved making California the latest state to end the war on cannabis. In Colorado even Gov. John Hickenlooper, who opposed the initiative in that state, now concedes it seems to be working. Said Hickenlooper: legal cannabis "is not as vexing as we thought it was going to be."

 * ... FLAGS: Get ready for another majestic display over Memorial Day weekend when a thousand American flags will transform the Park at Riverwalk into a patriotic canvas. This is the third year that the Breakfast Rotary Club has sponsored this event. Flag sponsorships are still available at $50 per flag and can be ordered online at www.thousandflags.org.

 * ... ACHIEVERS: George and Agnes Plantenga of Bakersfield shared with me that they have five grandchildren graduating this month: Alysse De Jager from Fresno State, Nathan De Jager from Bakersfield Christian High, George Plantenga from Los Osos High in Alta Loma, Hannah Fluegel of Central Valley Christian High in Visalia and Joshua Plantenga from Vineyard Junior High, also in Alta Loma. Sounds like the Plantengas have plenty of travel this month.