There are so many advantages to living in North Carolina. We don't have to deal with mounds of snow in the winter, it's a slower life style, our favorite ocean beach is just 30 minutes away, it's just a nice place to live.
Of course, as with all "nice" places, there are some issues. Yesterday, when Tony was grilling hot dogs, he opened the grill to turn on the propane tank and found a snake curled up the bottom of it.
We have a bird's nest in the large bush near the grill and we think that the snake had discovered a potential food source. It left the grill and climbed up into the bush to attack the baby Thrushes in the nest. Well, Mother and Papa bird weren't having any of that--the snake suddenly dropped to the ground and was chased back to the wetlands by 3 adult Thrushes and a Cardinal. They pecked at it and harassed it until was out of sight. I didn't realize that birds would challenge a snake, but parenthood is parenthood and they were serious about protecting the nest.
And so, it all ended well. Until this morning.
My phone woke me up and as I was speaking to a doctor's office, Tony came in and seemed rather agitated. I hung up and he told me to get dressed and come to the lanai.
That's not the usual greeting I get from Tony when I get up.
When I got there, Tony said, "the snake is back. He's on the lanai." OMG! I looked out of the door from the house to the lanai and there it was...up near the ceiling, resting on my twinkle lights. That's just rude!
Tony moved the lanai furniture around and got a broom. The snake just stayed quiet and not moving; tangled in the lights. Tony brushed it with the broom and it seemed to wake up. As Tony poked it, the snake started to move forward, still hanging onto the lights. It curled up and faced Tony as if to say, "hey, I'm sleeping here."
Tony continued to poke it with the broom handle until it fell with a thud onto the floor. Tony literally swept it out on to the patio and stayed with it until it reached the grass. The last time we saw it, the snake was headed toward the Zeno's house, next door, which is fine with me.
We checked our "snake guide" and found it was a non poisonous kind, but just the sight of it invading our space was enough to freak me out.
Tony has dubbed himself, "The Snake Wrangler." I know there are people out there who like snakes, I, however, am not one of them. Tony is also the "Kindness" Wrangler--he refuses to kill the damn thing if it comes back. My plan is, if the snake returns and Tony is not home, I'm going next door to the ex-Policeman who has a gun. I'm guessing that will fix the snake problem. I've always said Tony is nicer than I am!!
There are many animals here that I would love to have as visitors--little brown bunnies, Cardinals, the Thrushes, Humming birds, Mocking birds--all kinds of pretty things. Snakes is where I draw the line. There are over 1,000 homes in this community--they can visit someone else!
In other news, and this is so much better than the snake, this is our 31st wedding anniversary. We will be celebrating with a nice steak dinner and spending time together. The "kids" got us some memories from many years ago when we went on vacation--circa 1991 or 1992, not sure.
Enjoy the photos:
There it is, just hanging around
David made us a poster from vacation--he named Tony, "Mr. February!"
Was I ever that young?
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