Mop vs Snake
It seemed like the end to a practically perfect day. My wife and I had been gone all day since dawn and both of us arrived home within moments of each other long after dark. I was first there and hurried to go open the door for us and turn on the outside light. It gets pretty dark out where we live and you never know what you might bump into in the dark. I used the illumination of her truck's headlights pulling up to light my way. As planned, her truck came to a halt with the outside light was already on.
The pony was getting fed late. I brought some grass from the shed to his feeding bin. I thought he might be impatiently knocking against the corral bars but he wasn't even standing close at first. He was standing all the way over on the other side of the corral. That was a bit odd but, then again, I don't expect I will ever figure a horse out.
It's really nice to come home to see our dogs so excited to see us. It also occurred to me at that moment that they also get excited by rabbits, distant UPS trucks and blowing leaves. Maybe they were just hungry. Nonetheless, my wife let them out to run around a bit before we let them inside the house.
As we went up the stairs, I looked off to my right and about a few feet away, by the corner of our house was a rattlesnake all coiled up. Without sounding too much of an alarm, I said with a firm sense of urgency, "Get inside! Rattlesnake!"
Rattlesnakes are nothing new in the desert, of course. This was the first one I had seen on our property and a bit too close to my back door. The dogs, as much as they run around and sniff at anything, luckily, did not see the snake. My wife knew all too well the damage that a rattlesnake can do to dogs, horses and humans through her previous career as an emergency medical technician. You think you hate snakes? My wife HATES snakes with a fury reserved normally for the gods. But she is also a lady.
"Take the dogs inside, close the door and feed them.", she calmly said and she surveyed the snake from a reasonably safe vantage point. Basically, she just wanted to be left alone as she figured out how to vanquish this beast. She has experience with killing rattlesnakes whereas I do not. Even though my trust is implicit, I got the dogs safely in the house, fed and "put away" for the night and then went back to stand-by "just in case".
I really find her resourcefulness entertaining. It is not "if" with her but the delight in the "how" she will take care of things. I went back to the door and listened and didn't hear much. Slowly I opened the door and she was swinging a mop.
A mop?
Yes, a mop. It was one of those with the rolling squeeze heads and a telescoping rod. Here this darned thing was, in it's last throes, getting pummeled by my wife with a mop.
The snake is dead. I was stunned and amazed. The pony never took his nose out of the feed bin.
The pony was getting fed late. I brought some grass from the shed to his feeding bin. I thought he might be impatiently knocking against the corral bars but he wasn't even standing close at first. He was standing all the way over on the other side of the corral. That was a bit odd but, then again, I don't expect I will ever figure a horse out.
It's really nice to come home to see our dogs so excited to see us. It also occurred to me at that moment that they also get excited by rabbits, distant UPS trucks and blowing leaves. Maybe they were just hungry. Nonetheless, my wife let them out to run around a bit before we let them inside the house.
As we went up the stairs, I looked off to my right and about a few feet away, by the corner of our house was a rattlesnake all coiled up. Without sounding too much of an alarm, I said with a firm sense of urgency, "Get inside! Rattlesnake!"
Rattlesnakes are nothing new in the desert, of course. This was the first one I had seen on our property and a bit too close to my back door. The dogs, as much as they run around and sniff at anything, luckily, did not see the snake. My wife knew all too well the damage that a rattlesnake can do to dogs, horses and humans through her previous career as an emergency medical technician. You think you hate snakes? My wife HATES snakes with a fury reserved normally for the gods. But she is also a lady.
"Take the dogs inside, close the door and feed them.", she calmly said and she surveyed the snake from a reasonably safe vantage point. Basically, she just wanted to be left alone as she figured out how to vanquish this beast. She has experience with killing rattlesnakes whereas I do not. Even though my trust is implicit, I got the dogs safely in the house, fed and "put away" for the night and then went back to stand-by "just in case".
I really find her resourcefulness entertaining. It is not "if" with her but the delight in the "how" she will take care of things. I went back to the door and listened and didn't hear much. Slowly I opened the door and she was swinging a mop.
A mop?
Yes, a mop. It was one of those with the rolling squeeze heads and a telescoping rod. Here this darned thing was, in it's last throes, getting pummeled by my wife with a mop.
The snake is dead. I was stunned and amazed. The pony never took his nose out of the feed bin.
posted by Cool Water William @ 4:50 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home