Big A had been at work last night and I woke up this morning to him shouting about something.
He was shouting about a snake. A snake in the puppies' room.
He'd been refilling their water, but Huck seemed uncharacteristically uninterested in greeting him and then he saw that Huck's attention was on a tiny snake that had probably made its way into the house via the doggie door.
I helped by holding Max, and spotting the snake as it glided under and out of furniture (all the stuff you can see here) so Big A could catch and release it. But it was fearless Huck who really helped chase it out the backdoor.
I wonder... what would have happened if Big A hadn't been refilling the water bowls at that precise moment. Would the snake just be roaming the entire house? Do we already have other snakes who just live here?
Also... I don't know if this is the same Mx. Slithers I saw last year. But yesterday, I did drop a lot of clove powder in the garden where I saw them last year to drive them away. I wonder... if that smell drove them indoors. So is this, too, my fault after all?
I was pretty shaken and after Big A went for a post-call nap. I had to emergency snuggle with Nu who was in bed and very sleepy and unsympathetic. ("Gawd, Mama--I bet it was just a little snake. If you want a garden there's gonna be snakes." Unsympathetic, but sensible?)
So grateful for Huck's calm and valiant work today. Our 12-year-old who, as our vet says, looks like a "perma-puppy" and acts like a kitty and is 100% hero.
Pic: Huck getting love in a friend's lap last week.
7 comments:
Huck! Good job! Intruder alert!
It sounds like a garter snake? We have them here (not in our house, that would be a bit creepy) but at least they are harmless.
Nu's right, if unsympathetic! I had to laugh at their reaction.
Don't you hate it when the kid says something so sensible and so spot on -- and you just want them to say "I know that was just horrible and scary but we'll be OK!" Well done, team BigA, Huck and Maya! Snakes are the one creature that totally freak me out. (I blame my grandmother's phobia on this but nonetheless, it stuck.) I would have totally freaked. And again, that Huck is the cutest ever!
Snakes are my One True Phobia. A snake renders me completely paralyzed and immediately nauseated. I can't even touch a photo of a snake. If there were one in my house, I don't know what I'd do.
I'm going to give Nu a little grace since they were, after all, in bed and sleepy. BUT I feel like a little more sympathy and indulgence was in order.
Thank goodness for Huck (for so many things, including his overwhelming cuteness).
Ooh. I'm not afraid of snakes but they do... slither. I would be freaked out about one in the house (luckily it's never happened- we have had frogs in the house but they seem easier to manage.) I like Nu's comment. Very sensible!
Take care.
About thirty-five years ago, when Beth & I lived in Iowa, we used to have a cat (our first cat) who would catch snakes and bring them INTO the house. One of our housemates, who was a potter, made a mug for us and painted Emily and a bunch of snakes on it. Willow just knocked it off the mantle and broke it, which feels like some kind of full circle.
I am having to take deep breaths at the possibility of other snakes who simply live in your home, undetected.
Listen, I know intellectually that there are many many harmless snakes who perform valuable roles in the ecosystem. And yet I have a visceral and ancient fear reaction to them. Thank goodness Huck was on top of things! I can only hope he would never have allowed a snake to enter without alerting you to its presence.
Post a Comment