So, living on 4 acres in Texas has been fun, with minor annoyances, like dirt tracked in my house all the time, and little mice being tortured by the cat, not to mention the one he chased inside the house and I had to get him out...
But those have been minor. So a couple of weeks ago I felt it safe to put words to the relief I was feeling for having made it so long without any snake incidences. Yes, I have an irrational fear of snakes and I think if one came in my house I would run away shrieking never to set foot inside that house again. I was fully expecting to have my first snake encounter in March when the weather began to warm up - but no snakes. Then I thought well, maybe early April - no.
So end of April I actually got the guts up to verbalize, "You know what? We haven't seen any snakes out here. I guess the dog and cat are scaring them off."
Have I mentioned yet God's sense of humor?
I think I have.
So not a few days later, I hear Colton outside yelling, which he does, so I didn't move. Then Kevin runs inside and yells, "A snake! Aly has a snake!" Great.
John runs out - I don't - but I do have a nice view from the window - and I see the kids all surrounding a bush next to the shed, and the cat crouched down in the grass just staring.
John gets a look, jumps back and sends for something to catch it in. I'm thinking, we are so not keeping this guy.
After some fancy maneuvering, and much cheering from the kids, John gets the snake contained in a flower pot. The cat has not moved from his post during this whole episode. Curiosity, I imagine. It wasn't until the snake was contained that he sauntered off to find something else to do. By this time I had made it out of the house, but kept a nice distance until the creature was contained.
Here is my first view of him:
And here is my favorie view of him:
So John called our friend Jason, who LOVES these freaks of nature and he came to pick up his newly adopted friend. A speckled king snake he named Fergie, after us. He was very excited. I was very excited he was taking Fergie away from my near vicinity.
We have information rights to Fergie - Jason is letting us know how he is doing and how he is eating - a concern since he was more than a little freaked out from his encounter with us.
I am just glad I haven't had snake nightmares all week. But I must confess, I did have a difficult time going to sleep - kept checking for monsters under the bed. Blech!!!
I really, really, really hate snakes!
Sorry Fergie. We just aren't going to be very close.
FYI - the pictures were taken by Justin. There was no way I was getting close enough to that guy to get these shots. I'm just saying...
7 comments:
That's funny...I just saw my first snake of the year on Saturday--a tiny little one. Jay also has an irrational fear of snakes, so you're not alone!
Ewwwwww. Really. Ewwwwww.
Did you know king snakes are supposed to eat other snakes that are venomous?
Still. Yuk. Snakes. It's an out of Eden thing, I'm thinkin'.
Is that the same snake in every picture? 'Cause if so, it looks WAY bigger in Jason's hands than it does in the bucket!
I'm glad you made it through the incident!
Funny post, Heather. Actually, the more I think about it, the more we should have kept 'Fergie' around b/c king snakes eat other snakes, especially the kind that we don't want around.
So, in a weird sort of way, Fergie was your friend.
You and me both!! Happy to tell you you are far less likely to run into snakes up here! Coyotes are a different story though. :^D
I was thinking at the very beginning that Jason might make an appearance in this blog post. That snake is gonna live the high life now.
How does it feel to have a snake named in your honor?
Wow, Justin, you are becoming quite the little photographer! We'll have to take our cameras on a walk when you get to NC!
Oh Heather, I just read this. We should tell you the tale of the one that was coming out of the wall into our bathroom in our house in north texas soon after we moved in. We were chasing a mouse back and forth in the bedroom trying to catch it, when Kevin says "Never mind, there's a snake in the bathroom!" It was several nights before I could sleep again.
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