Florida Living (again)

"...Most snakes’ll leave you alone if you leave them alone. The moccasin has a white mouth inside, which is why it’s also called a cottonmouth. And a cottonmouth is just flat-out ornery. It’ll come after you for sheer meanness.”
“I’m supposed to wait until I see inside the snake’s mouth to figure out what it is?”
“Try using your charmin’ ways on it. Now, the coral snake’s tricky, ’cause he’s got a cousin what looks like him, but ain’t dangerous. There’s a handy little way to remember which is which. If you see a snake that’s got red, black, and yellow bands, say to yourself ‘red on yellow, kill a fellow, red on black, friend of Jack.’” He looked quite pleased with himself for remembering the mnemonic.
"If I see a snake I’m unlikely to be thinking of nursery rhymes."
"I was just tryin’ to help. You goin’ to eat all that?”

--SMUGGLER'S BRIDE 

When I went into the kitchen this morning I found a note on the counter from my dear husband, informing me that last night when he took the dog out she spotted a snake on the porch (probably a cousin of this gal, who I saw earlier this year.)

I checked around the porch this morning, but no snakes were sighted, so when my husband came in for breakfast I brought him up to speed and said, "As long as it wasn't a coral snake, I'm not worried about it."

"I think it was just a garden snake," he said. 

"Do you know the mnemonic to spot a coral snake?"

"Something....something...black...something...Jack."

"Yeah, you a dead man," I sighed, and it's all the sadder because my husband is North Florida native. "It's 'red on yellow, kill a fellow, red on black, friend of Jack'."

Research, people! It could save your life...even if you're writing hot romance about smugglers on the Florida frontier!