Lions and Tigers and Snakes

We've had quite a few "never before" experiences over the past 100 days and today we added one more.  Being in the country, one expects to encounter some local wildlife and we've seen and heard our share here - geckos sunning themselves on the walls and walkways, a baby mouse in the pool, deer in the wheat fields, huge iridescent beetles and cuckoo birds.  This morning, I finished shaving in our en suite bathroom and stepped out into the bedroom to see a 4 foot black garden snake sliding past the foot of our bed.  My first thought was "now there's something you don't see everyday," followed closely by "should I tell Sarah before or after I get rid of it?"

I decided to tell Sarah as I walked to the kitchen to get a broom and pail, at which point she screeched and bolted out of the house.  Meg came bounding into the room to see the snake while Eva ran to her bedroom to "save" her iPod before running outside.  The snake squeezed under a door frame into the space between an adjoining door with Eva's bedroom and it almost escaped into the other room, but some quick work by Meggie on the other door kept the snake contained. I dropped the bucket and tried to push Mr. Snake into it with the broom, at which point he started hissing and sprayed a nasty defensive scent (like stinky cheese, according to Meg).  After a bit of a rethink, I decided to hold the snake on the floor with the bristle end of the broom, then push him through the bedroom and out the front door.  The poor snake, in shock from his rather frightful experience with a menacing broom, scurried across the driveway into the grass.

One of our gecko house guests

Later in the day, we took a drive, stopped and got out of the car to look around. Eva, a wee chip off the old block, points to the ground behind Sarah and says "Mom, there's a snake!"