30 May 2010

During the almost two years that we have lived in NC, I have been afraid of running into a snake. I was beginning to feel more secure in that area until I came home from picking up Pea at preschool to find this guy lying on my threshold.

When I saw him, I jumped, danced, screamed, gagged, and otherwise made a fool of myself. Then, I calmly went back to the car and opened the garage door, shooing Pea in front of me dashed into the house via the garage.

I'm so glad that my front door is glass. First of all, so that I could get that lovely shot of my enemy for all of you without endangering myself. Second, so that I can check for him (and his friends) before I open the door ever again!

He has been identified (by me and my FB friends) as a rat snake. Which in my opinion sounds like a double-vermin. Fortunately, like most snakes in my area, they are physically harmless. Psychologically, though, it's a different story. Which brings me to my next tale of woe.

Three days after Ratty paid his visit, I was headed out to run errands. I locked the door and turned to walk to my car. That's when I heard the rustling like grocery bags. Then I saw it--sleek, black, hideous. Another, very different snake in the flower bed. Another, very similar dance-scream-gag sequence. Of course, I couldn't take my eyes off the horrible thing. It slithered up onto the porch, turned around and looked at me (I'm not kidding, it even stuck its head up about six inches off the ground), slithered under the porch bench (which gave me the opportunity to observe that it was at least 4 feet long, as verified by my husby, lest you think I exaggerate!) and over to the other flower bed. At this point I assumed I was out of reach and completed my mad dash to the car.

It has been about a week since the second snake sighting and I have quit looking between the sheets before getting into bed. But, I still loathe dark hallways and will not go into the dark garage without turning on the light.

So, you ought to be rather proud of me when I tell you that I was sitting here at my computer yesterday when I heard the rustling of grocery bags and didn't freak out. I calmly assumed that the air conditioning was blowing on the bag of craft goodies on the floor behind me. But, of course, I didn't explore. This afternoon, A pointed out that the register was closed. I watched over his shoulder while he picked up the bag. This is what he found.