Enough With the Snakes, Already!

OK, if you are not a regular reader, (as opposed to an irregular reader??) you may not know that this has been the summer of the snakes at our place. We have had three moccasins, a black racer, and an oak snake since May. All but one, I saw first. Alright, so maybe the snakes saw me first, but I was the first person to be aware the snakes were in our yard. Of course, the snakes may have been thinking I was in their yard.

So is anybody surprised that this past week, there was a snake on our playground at school while my children were out? This was actually the second time I have seen this same snake or its sibling of the same size. It is a very small oak snake, also called a rat snake. He is about a foot long, but pencil thin. Snakes bring quite a bit of excitement where ever they appear and I decided for his own safety as well as the safety of the over-excited children, he needed to be relocated. I caught him in--- rather he obliged by crawling into--- a sand pail. A lid was popped over the top until I could get a large, acrylic bug box for him to stay in. It was a great way for the kids to be able to see him.

We offered him to a teacher who is partial to snakes but she only wanted him visit for a couple of days. But she did introduce our class to her large corn snake. So the little guy has come home with me and we will take him to some woods where he can go hunting.

And, dog-gone-it, I was cutting flowers this afternoon in the back yard and saw a large, unidentified snake wiggling through the azaleas. It was gone before I could see it, but the movement was unmistakable. Sigh.