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Published: April 28, 2008

Over the weekend Matt and I spent a lot of time outside… the mulch madness continues… between breaks in rain we got plenty done and I was looking at all of the pretty shrubs that are blooming… the photo above is of a “bleeding heart” and as I examined it closely I was amazed at nature’s detail… if you haven’t seen one up close they are very unusual and beautiful.

Also, as I was trying to figure out whether Luckie was inside or out I came across a “visitor” on our front porch… you see my husband keeps rubber snakes on our roof along the edge to try to scare the woodpeckers away… we have wood siding on the house and the birds have done a number on some parts of it… that being said… I opened the front door to see if Luckie was out there and looked down and thought… hmmmmmm why would Matt put one of those rubber snakes on the front porch?  Just as I was going to reach for it… I realized it WASN"T a RUBBER SNAKE!  It was a real snake… with a tiny little head poking up.. it stayed still and didn’t seem to care near as much about me as I did about it… Matt had gone to get a load of mulch - I tried to call him - got no answer - texted SNAKE to him… called his Dad, Gene who said the black snake wouldn’t hurt anything but if I wanted him to he would drive over (about 5 minute trip) and kill it… I said please come kill it… I called Matt back he answered and said to leave it alone it wouldn’t hurt anything and kept other “critters” away (Matt’s Dad had told me the same thing) I had immediately felt guilty when I hung up with Gene earlier and had basically given the little guy a death sentence…

Sooooo I tried to call Gene back to call off the “hit” on the snake… I got Matt’s mom Gene had left his cell phone at home and was already on his way… just before Gene pulled into the driveway the skinny black snake started to move… I guess he’d had enough sun and slowly slithered down the side of the porch… I saw the small tip of his tale disappear as Gene was pulling in… I walked out to meet him and said sorry to have bothered you - let’s not kill the snake… he said okay and I proceeded to tell him about how I almost reached down to pick it up thinking it was a fake snake… he laughed and said - you would have turned it loose real quick… snakes are cold to the touch… not to mention they move and rubber snakes don’t…

The snake episode freaked me out a little and I keep a close eye out so I can be prepared if he comes back… however he has been spared and will likely become our outdoor mascot of sorts… I hope he doesn’t have a lot of friends though… I didn’t get a photo of him because I was too scared to open the door again…