Snakes Are Good, Heart Attacks Are Bad

Ok, ok, so we've been to Jellystone Park enough times to hear the Luray Zoo spiel on How Snakes Are Good, how they mostly leave people alone, eat other unwanted critters, are good for the environment, and are generally misunderstood. My kids can recite it all chapter and verse as well.

This does NOT mean that I want to find one on my lawn tractor in the shed when I go to mow the lawn. I nearly had a heart attack I was so surprised. Now for the record, I probably would have had much the same reaction for a skunk, groundhog, wasp, neighbor, or small child that I came upon unexpectedly in my shed. (Actually, for the skunk I would have run shrieking like a little girl ... but I digress).

The snake slithered off my tractor seat and under the engine ... tempting, but no ... I popped the tractor into neutral at arm's length and rolled it backward down the ramp. No dice, the snake got off the tractor and hid behind some cabinet drawers in the shed. Hey, buddy, the feeling's mutual ...

I figured if I left the doors open and mowed the lawn, he'd leave in his own good time, so that is what I did. Which of course means that I wasn't thinking about it by the time I pulled back in. When the tractor is on, it put out some serious vibrations especially inside a little wooden shed. Now, snakes don't like that kind of vibrations much.

There is about two feet of clearance in the shed when the tractor is parked inside -- just enough for a few extra tools and my hand mower. So as I parked the tractor I looked over to the hand mower, and there was Snake-y wrapped around the handle, his forked tongue flickering in and out close to my face. I nearly fell out of my seat I jumped so hard.

He decided this would be a good time to leave and started slithering down the handle, but I was determined it would be outside. I quick jerked the hand mower out of the shed down the ramp and reached for the steel rake.

Snake-y beat a hasty retreat through the grass and under the shed or woodpile, I couldn't tell which. He was in such a hurry he looked like he was running on his elbows. In retrospect, it looked kinda funny. I think he was only a harmless black snake, but we didn't exchange insurance information or anything.

Now if he would only go over and eat the family of groundhogs, we'll forget about the whole thing.