Living in the country

Ok, I guess we live in the country, but we are only about 30 minuted from the Nation's Capitol.

We have lots of little, and big, wild critters that run around our back yard, as if it's their back yard. We had the skunk thing, and now, it's the SNAKE thing. Skunks are one thing, at least they're kind of cute. But snakes, no. Not cute. Not cuddly. Just plain creepy. I know they are good, and eat the mice and all, but, alas, the poor snake was truly cursed with the slithery, slow motion and that little flicking tongue.

On Saturday afternoon while I am at the barn, I hear someone coming from the house and it sounds like-no, it can't be-it sounds like they are saying a SNAKE is in the living room. That Dad knows, and he is leaving it there. It can't be.

Eventually I finished at the barn and had no choice but to go inside. So of course I had to take a look at the dreaded reptile. It was several feet long, and black. We all figured it was a black snake, tough guess, huh? I spent a while googling northern VA black snakes and discovered he was probably a nothern black racer.

We could not agree what to do about him. I wanted him O U T. My husband thought we should either take him out and kill him, or leave him alone. I didn't think he deserved to die, so we ended up leaving him there for the night.

I am usually a very sound and deep sleeper. This night though, my husband's snoring kept waking me up. I wanted to go to the couch downstairs, but, gratefully I remembered the snake was spending the night down there. I didn't want to intrude, so, I opted for my daughter's bed instead.

Unfortunately for me, he was still there in the morning. By late afternoon I couldn't take it anymore. He was moving all around like he owned the place or something. I had to have him out. My daughter helped, and we opened the french doors. We rearranged a lot of furniture, and then, armed with my crutch, I went for the snake. He was a bit upset about this. (That's an understatement.) I was slighty intimidated, and then decided to have a little talk with him. I told him he needed to get out, there would be lots of mice outside waiting to be his lunch. I even threatened him with my black belt in Tae Kwon Do, but neither seemed to have any effect on him at all.

Eventually I got him in a more open space, and with my mighty crutch I slid him across the wood floor and OUT the french doors!

My daughter video taped all of this and if we can figure how, we will upload it for your viewing pleasure.