Snake Wrangler

Scout is a turkey. You all knew that but yesterday he hit a new high of turkiness. For about 3 hours yesterday afternoon, I was forced to police Scout as he wrangled either 2 or 3 snakes. I think there was 1 snake that was dumb enough to keep reappearing and driving Scout to near hysteria, making me think it was a different snake but there was definitely 2. The problem is that Scout is afraid of the snakes, who wouldn't be? I mean, when he corners them, they rise up and strike at him and yesterday I saw one start rattling its tail. That was disconcerting to say the least. I thought, Holy shit! Is that a Rattler!? Thankfully, after I looked it up, I saw that black rat snakes will do that when cornered because it makes the predator think twice. Scout certainly thinks twice but while he's thinking he barks like a maniac until I'm forced to stop him and wrestle him inside. 

So yeah, the first time it happened, I didn't see the snake because it's behind the wood pile. Scout was just trying to get at him. I managed to get the boys inside and then went back out by myself to spread some snake repellant. (You may be wondering what Boo was doing while all this is going on. He just followed Scout around. He saw the snake but he didn't bark. He would hop around, obviously terrified but won't get near it.) I made the boys stay in for a bit and finally after about a half hour (with Scout continually going to the door and ringing the bells) I let them back out. They went right back to the spot but the snake must've been elsewhere because they were calm. While this was happening, Iwent to the side window to watch them, happened to look down and right below the window, slithering out from under the Florida room, through the lattice was a whole other snake. ARG! I watched him for a while but the dogs never saw him. They eventually came in and joined me at the window. I wondered if they'd spy him and eventually Scout did but Boo never figured it out. I had shut the slider by this point because I didn't want Scout going out and causing another round of raucous.  

Once I saw the snake go back under the Florida room, I let the boys out again. Of course they ran right to the spot where he'd disappeared and sniffed and nosed around. All was well though...he didn't make an appearance while they were there. I did see him come out once more and go up the retaining wall and slither around the corner but I lost him and I'm not sure where he headed. 

About a half hour later, I was reading on the back deck when Scout started up again. The bark he emits when he's got a snake in his sights is very distinct. I grabbed my water soaker that I keep to distract the boys and shut them up when they're barking like little assholes, headed to the side yard and there, trying to escape through the fence to my neighbors yard was ANOTHER snake (it was probably the same one as the first incident). I know this wasn't the one from under the Florida room because this one was in the midst of expelling a previously eaten meal. You know, pooping. It was crazy. You could see what looked like bones coming out. It was so disgusting and kind of cool. I sprayed the tail end of the snake which hurried him/her along and that was that. I didn't see another snake after that. 

Again, I'm happy to have snakes around because they keep some control of the rodents but I DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM IN MY YARD! I don't want my dogs to see them. One of these days Scout isn't going to be afraid anymore and he's going to grab one and holy shit what if he brings one in the house!? Jim will lose his mind and I'm going to be the one who has to remove it. Ugh! 

Okay well, now that my heart is pounding having relived all that, I think I need a valium. 

So the rest of my day: I've walked the dogs and I'm going to go up and do some ab and arm work before getting in the shower and heading out. I didn't go out yesterday so I'll go do the things I meant to today (BB&B and Costco). After that I'll come home and take a bike ride and then if it's nice I might soak up some vitamin D. Dinner tonight: either a cobb salad or spaghetti and a salad. Or maybe some mahi mahi. Ooh, yesterday I made smash burgers on my Blackstone and they were so good! 

K - time to get a move on. Happy Tuesday. I'm loving this early cool weather. I wish summer could be like this all the time (cool mornings, 80s in the afternoon with little humidity). Later!