No way!      

Way!

   Aidan went out to feed the dog yesterday and came running back in to say there was a snake by the doghouse.  We weren’t too concerned since we have found a few garter snakes in recent weeks. The only other big snake we have seen here was a giant gopher snake a few yrs ago.  He was carried off by a hawk shortly after that. This, howevever was another story…..

   There in the yard was a smallish (3 feet?) snake coiled and hissing at the frantic dog.  The snake’s tail was poised and rattling in the middle of the coils and its head was tracking the dog menacingly. It was venomous. Allen got his gun and shot it, though let me just say these buggers are remarkably resilient. : /   Took a few shots to finally do it in and safely remove it from the yard. We were able to all get a good close up look so we know what to look for in the future.

   The future is our concern today. This snake was clearly not full grown which begs the question of where it came from and if there are more. Everyone is on snake alert. We can’t figure out what the draw would be to the house since we are pretty much rodent free with all these barn cats.  The net did say that snakes are more active in early fall as they seek warmer winter quarters. It is enough to give a mother a good case of the heebie jeebies regardless of the snake’s original intention. Thank you guardian angels!