Everyday Surprises

On Monday, as I was mowing the yard to help Jeremy out since he was working on the pergola (which is almost finished with a first coat of paint and will hopefully be done in time for Lauren's birthday party next Saturday), I saw something dart out in front of the lawnmower. I immediately calmed down when I realized it was this (and not a snake):



Way cuter than a snake - let me expand on the story...

For those of you who know me, you know I don't do snakes. Period...ever. I can't stand the reptile house at the zoo, and I can't handle the thought of snakes at all. Last year, we were having company over one night, and I needed to make a quick run to the store to grab a couple of things for dinner. I loaded Lauren in the car seat and headed around to the driver's side of the truck when I heard a hissing noise. I was on the phone and told my friend I thought my tire must be leaking - until I looked back and realized there was a very large snake coiled up in my garage hissing and ready to strike. I quickly jumped in my truck and almost hyperventilated. I remember yelling into the phone that there was a snake in my garage to my friend. I called our local college in town to see if perhaps the biology department would be interested in this snake. They informed me that they were not in the snake catching business. So, I called my husband (who happened to be in a meeting with his boss). And I might have called one or two or four times with panic in my voice escalating with each phone call as I asked him when he was going to leave his meeting and come home to kill the snake so that Lauren and I could go back in the house. At this point, I'm terrified at the thought of opening the garage door and backing out in case I back over the darn thing. Which would of course solve my problem, but then I'd have to deal with the after-effects of running over something - which is also not fun. Jeremy told me he would take care of it when he got home, and I was flabbergasted. I could not believe he wouldn't run out of the meeting with his boss to come home and kill the snake while I was at the grocery store.


So, I went to the grocery store and got home - hoping that the snake was gone, but also hoping that if it was there, I could at least see where it was. Neither of those things happened, so I grabbed Lauren out of her car seat, and quickly ran into the house through the front door - almost hyperventilating again just thinking about the fact that there was a large snake in my garage.

Jeremy came home a few minutes later and had about given up on the snake still being in the garage because it wasn't out in plain sight when he got there. I immediately let him know that that was unacceptable, and everything was coming out of the garage so that we could find the snake. When we moved in, Jeremy built a nice workbench for himself on the left side of our garage. In the last 4 years, he has accumulated quite a collection of particle board and various wood pieces. I knew with every fiber in my being that the snake was hiding somewhere behind all of that wood. I wished him the best of luck, and went in to await the noise of a metal shovel hitting a concrete floor several times. A few minutes later, I heard that glorious noise, and I knew without a doubt that the snake was no more. I still have no idea what kind of snake it was - except that it was very very dark and about 3 and 1/2 to 4 feet long. And really, that was more than I ever wanted to know about the snake in the first place.

For weeks after that, I could not bring myself to walk anywhere close to the spot where the snake was or where the snake met its demise. I really was almost paralyzed with fear when I would think about it.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I was mowing, and I almost mowed over a 3 and 1/2 foot long snakeskin. Now, for those of you that really know me, you know there are very few times that I turn full on girly-girl. However, upon seeing the snakeskin, I immediately shut off the mower, screamed,"Oh sweet mercy," and ran screaming and arms flailing into the house. I really wish someone had been filming me, because I'm sure I would collapse into peals of laughter if I could see how stupid I looked. I'm giggling now just thinking about it. Anyway, I tell you this to say, I hate snakes...but I love bunnies ~ especially baby ones that live in our yard. Here's a picture of the mama in the rabbit hole:



Pretty cool huh? Lauren thinks it's really neat that we have baby rabbits living in our yard and even enjoyed leaving out some baby carrots for the baby rabbits - of which they ate a couple.

I leave you with a couple of sweet pictures of my almost 3 year old who is spending a few days with Mimi and Pappaw while Mommy and Daddy spend a few days trying to get some stuff finished up around the house (i.e. pergola) before this little one turns 3. Have a great weekend everyone!



And no, Lauren's not rocking the side ponytail 80's style...the other ponytail is just hidden by the camera angle and her noggin.