The warmer weather means planting -- potting up some rosemary to replace one done in by the winter, sowing seeds and planting collards, kale, cauliflower, and broccoli starts . . . and hoping that the rain predicted for tomorrow materializes.
It's also time to put up the screens and hang the screen doors. The dogs love the screen doors as they can push them open and go out at will. Yes, Willa too - she's been staying around pretty well so she's been released from her grounded state.
The kittehs aren't so sure about the screen doors. And thereby hangs a tale . . .
Yesterday I noticed that the two kittehs were staring fixedly at something on the living room floor -- the living room is dark and at first I couldn't see what it was. So I switched on a light.
Aha! A fair sized black snake was coiled up by the chest of drawers. He'd probably come in from the greenhouse -- its door is open in this mild weather. Of course I thought about my camera but the snake immediately slid under the chest of drawers. No time for pictures -- the problem with a snake in the house is that there are so many places for them to hide, the better to startle you later on. So if you see one, the time to act is at once.
I called John and together, with the use of a grabber stick left over from my knee surgery, we herded the snake out a nearby door -- all five feet of him -- and he was glad to go.
The kittehs have remained on high alert, creeping around like jungle cats and paying especial attention to the chest where the snake was. And they were somewhat appalled by the flimsy screen doors -- "John, don't you know there are snakes out there?" they seem to be saying.
12 comments:
Yikes, jungle cats and snakes. One I love, the other I can tolerate, but am glad you had to deal with him and not me.
That's a big snake. Black snakes are abundant around here, fortunately they haven't figured out how to make it inside!
Yep. I'd forget about the camera with a snake in the house. Glad the kittens alerted you.
I gotta tell this story. When much younger I was salesman. I took a trip with the guy who's territory I was taking over. In South Carolina just before the mountains was an empty unpainted house with a four door Buick in the front yard with some people in it. My friend told me the people built the house and the first day they found a snake in the house and due to their religion they never went in the house again and lived in the car. This is kind of the opposite of snake handlers.
Glad you two don't have any snake religious hand ups.
Everyday life at your house is not the same as elsewhere and we love it!
Full of surprises but as long as you suffer no harm it's ok.
Vicki, how wonderful to have those kitties performing snake security duty. I would have been totally freaked out by finding a snake in the house.
Much more pleasant to think about planting rosemary and veg.
xo
I especially like the picture of the cat looking for...
A 5-foot snake must seem huge to your kittehs. That's a side of your otherwise attractive lifestyle that I am not sure I could handle!
Ah yes, country living close to all kinds of critters. We've had black snakes in the studio, a grey rat snake in the house and a tiny garter snake in the house. I'm glad they eat the rodents, but did you know they're contributing more to the decline in the songbird population than the kitties are ? That's definitely true at our place---so many eggs have disappeared from the nests that I've seen.
Deana the Queena
I was envying your warm weather until I read about the snake.
Snakes? Yikes!
oo a snake....had one in the yard this last weekend...kept waiting for my cat to creep up....i have a screen i need to fix on the porch...oy, i guess this weekend...it was a glorious weekend this weekend
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