An Exciting Morning
So the kids and I are having a fairly typical morning. We get out of bed, watch some cartoons, eat some breakfast, then the kids start to get antsy. It's a beautiful day here today, so I'm thinking it's a great morning to go outside before it gets too hot and humid. So after a quick shower and getting dressed, Zach's had a full morning and needs to go down for a nap.
That brings us to 10:00am. Olivia is so proud of herself because she got dressed all by herself - no help from Mommy. And we head outside onto the deck. She runs to the driveway chasing Speckles, and I decide I'll open up the garage door so we can get into the house that way if we want to. So I open it up. And then I remember that I left my sandals in the garage right by my car and an old couch that just sits in there because we don't actually want it, but haven't quite gotten rid of it yet. On top of the couch is a plant, some of my old magazines, and on top of those two things is balanced a kite Scott thought would be fun. So I go over to get my sandals, and I look over at the couch/plant/kite mess, and stop short because there's a snake on top of the kite. I kind of laugh at myself because Olivia must have brought out one of her toy snakes. But within a split second of that thought, I think: but Olivia doesn't have any snakes that look like this one, and hers aren't as big, either, and then I panic. I say, "oh my God, oh my God, OH MY GOD," and scream at Olivia and the dog that we have to go into the house NOW. And that's when the snake, looking lifeless to this point, decided to take cover. Needless to say, we were in the house in seconds, and my sandals stayed in the garage to keep the snake company...
So I get into the house and in a panic I call Scott at work - like why? and what is he gonna do about it? But the brain is kind of not thinking very clearly at this point. So I tell him about it and as I'm describing it decide this snake doesn't sound too friendly: about 3-4 feet long, tan/brown color with dark brown/black spots on it. But I did notice it did not have a rattle, so one venomous snake to cross off the list. But...
So I get online to figure out what kind of snake is now holding me and the kids hostage in our house, and after going through several pages of pictures, I find it: a northern water snake. Actually very common here, but I'd never even heard of or seen one before. And non-poisonous (thank you, God). I'm guessing that it was after one of the mice that hide out in the garage. But I was reading that they are often mistaken for cottonmouth snakes or water moccasins because they do look a lot alike - what a comforting thought. So then I went out to the garage and took some pictures of our "guest," just so I could show Scott that I was not making it all up or exaggerating.
When Scott got home at 1:30-ish, the snake was still sitting on the couch and Scott asked if we should kill it, but decided we probably shouldn't. So he got a box and took it out to the woods, where I'm told it was much happier and more comfortable.
What an exciting morning...
posted by Elena
That brings us to 10:00am. Olivia is so proud of herself because she got dressed all by herself - no help from Mommy. And we head outside onto the deck. She runs to the driveway chasing Speckles, and I decide I'll open up the garage door so we can get into the house that way if we want to. So I open it up. And then I remember that I left my sandals in the garage right by my car and an old couch that just sits in there because we don't actually want it, but haven't quite gotten rid of it yet. On top of the couch is a plant, some of my old magazines, and on top of those two things is balanced a kite Scott thought would be fun. So I go over to get my sandals, and I look over at the couch/plant/kite mess, and stop short because there's a snake on top of the kite. I kind of laugh at myself because Olivia must have brought out one of her toy snakes. But within a split second of that thought, I think: but Olivia doesn't have any snakes that look like this one, and hers aren't as big, either, and then I panic. I say, "oh my God, oh my God, OH MY GOD," and scream at Olivia and the dog that we have to go into the house NOW. And that's when the snake, looking lifeless to this point, decided to take cover. Needless to say, we were in the house in seconds, and my sandals stayed in the garage to keep the snake company...
So I get into the house and in a panic I call Scott at work - like why? and what is he gonna do about it? But the brain is kind of not thinking very clearly at this point. So I tell him about it and as I'm describing it decide this snake doesn't sound too friendly: about 3-4 feet long, tan/brown color with dark brown/black spots on it. But I did notice it did not have a rattle, so one venomous snake to cross off the list. But...
So I get online to figure out what kind of snake is now holding me and the kids hostage in our house, and after going through several pages of pictures, I find it: a northern water snake. Actually very common here, but I'd never even heard of or seen one before. And non-poisonous (thank you, God). I'm guessing that it was after one of the mice that hide out in the garage. But I was reading that they are often mistaken for cottonmouth snakes or water moccasins because they do look a lot alike - what a comforting thought. So then I went out to the garage and took some pictures of our "guest," just so I could show Scott that I was not making it all up or exaggerating.
When Scott got home at 1:30-ish, the snake was still sitting on the couch and Scott asked if we should kill it, but decided we probably shouldn't. So he got a box and took it out to the woods, where I'm told it was much happier and more comfortable.
What an exciting morning...
posted by Elena
posted by Scott Watson at 5:35 PM
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