Our Slithering Guest...

I got a call at work the other day from my wife. Thanks to the miracles of modern electronics, my wife and I usually communicate via text or instant messages.  It's so convenient and in just a sentence or two, it's all done. No calls need be made and both of us can keep on working.

So, a call nowadays is a rare event.

However, certain circumstances require a phone call. Emergencies, a fender-benders, broken appliances, or if we win the lottery or receive some other large cash award--all phone call-worthy events.

And that includes snakes measuring up to four feet in length inside the home.

The kids were out with the dog when they saw a snake finding its way into our garage. We've lived in our house since 2003 and as far as we know, it was our first snake. Of course, that may not be true, but it's the first visit backed up with evidence. My wife bravely approached and snapped a picture with her phone.

I'm not the biggest fan of snakes, but I don't mind them too much. I grew up on a mountain and we ran into snakes all the time. As a kid I even found a wild snake and kept it for a pet for a few months--letting it out and crawl all over me and everything. It wasn't big--a couple of feet maybe--but we fed it eggs and generally thought it was cool. I think I'd freak out if one of my kids did that to me. The thing about snakes is that they will leave you alone if you leave them alone.

My wife wondered if the snake was trying to find a new home. That make me think. Do snakes look for new places to live in people's homes? I had never thought about that. Where I grew up at my mom's house (located across the street from where I now live...), we kept the garage door open all the time. We'd have mice come in and even stray cats, but I never saw a snake taking up residence. I told my wife that I didn't think the snake was looking for anything permanent. It was most likely trying to find the baby birds that are living up near our roof, and once it found that they weren't near ground level, it took its business elsewhere.

Even though I'm pretty sure it wasn't looking for a new home, I'm pretty sure I'll be looking twice for that snake every time I enter the garage, at least for a while, anyway...