Warning to Snakes Everywhere: Stay Away from the Summers!

So every summer I find a couple of snakes in the back yard. With my lawnmower. Aside from the mess that follows, they freak me out. I don't know why- I grew up in rural Idaho, after all. I had friends who brought rattle snake meat as part of their school lunch. But I've never been able to handle the thought of holding one of the critters in my hands. Oooh- I've got the creepies already.

(No, this isn't Tammy writing this. It's brave old Dad).

So the other day the kids found a snake wandering around our backyard. Instead of chopping it up with the lawnmower, I let the kids play with it. For hours. and hours. It kept looking at me with "please kill me" eyes. By the end, the poor thing was barely moving.

But I had a plan- that evening, we let it go back into the weeds behind the house. That way, it could warn all of the other reptiles in the area that this is one house. We'll see how well it works as the temperature rises. My thermometer says it reached 92 degrees today!