Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Saga of the Speckled Kingsnake, Part 1

Paul was brush hogging his Mom's place up the road and Rhiannon and I went to make sure he wasn't injured or died in some horrific tractor accident that I always am afraid of when he's working alone visit him.  All the tractor commotion caused not only Ms. Melman & Nugget (the mule & mini-horse) to run around like crazy animals, but it also brought out a small speckled king snake.

Being the lover of snakes that I am, I picked it up and put it into a small, empty, plastic coffee container.  Rhiannon was thrilled.  Heck, I was thrilled.  Speckled King Snakes eat venomous snakes, and we have plenty of copperheads around here and supposedly an occasional timber rattler.  So I had Rhiannon hold on to the coffee container and we drove back home.  I was going to release it by the house, but then I thought "Homeschooling Project"!  I told Rhiannon to put the container on the kitchen counter top while I sought out a more suitable enclosure for the snake.  When I found an old plastic bin, I told Rhiannon to bring the container to me so we could release it into it's temporary home.  Rhiannon hands me the container and I open it.......to find nothing.  As in, empty.  As in, no freaking snake.  As in, Shit, Paul's gonna throw a fit 'cause there's a snake loose either in the truck or in the house.

I'm obviously a bit anxious now.  How did it get out?!  I asked Rhiannon if she opened the lid.  She looks at me and says "No, Mama".  I asked her if she dropped it on accident.  "No, Mama."  I tell her I won't be mad at her if she did, but if she did, she needed to tell me where and when so we could find the snake.  "No, Mama, I just put it on the kitchen counter like you said."

So I go back into the kitchen and what do I see?  An identical, empty coffee container.  On the kitchen counter top.  With a snake inside of it.

To say that I was immensely relieved would be an understatement.

To Be Continued........

7 comments:

  1. Thank Goodness I'm not the only one who thinks the Hubby is gonna die in some horrible way when he's by himself.

    You are made of tough stuff Sister...A snake on the loose...{{{shudder}}}

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  2. I have never seen a speckled one, he is gorgeous!

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  3. That snake fit in a coffee can??? It's beautiful, but I'm glad it's yours and not mine.

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  4. I just wanna say that because of the way I feel about snakes (Ish! Eeuuw! Criminy, I think I'm gonna faint!), you should feel honored to know I made myself read this post. But I did my best to get through it without looking at the picture. ( Ish! Eeuuw! Criminy, I may faint yet!)

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