No cowardly lion at our house. . .

We have been watching a lot of The Wizard of Oz lately. Madelyn is all into it right now. She wears ruby slippers everyday and watches the movie in the car whenever we drive somewhere. That means I get to listen to the movie an awful lot. There is one line in it towards the end when the wizard tells the lion something like this, "Courage is not running into danger; it is knowing when to run away from it." Well, yesterday, Julianne ran right into danger, but she was being courageous and it was the right thing to do . . . so proof yet again that the wizard doesn't know everything.

The kids were outside playing on the patio. It was a nice day (91 degrees, but not humid and in the shade with a cool breeze it felt wonderful -- Yes, I know that that sounds extremely hot, but compared to what we have had it felt amazing). I set up a blanket for Adam to crawl around on and Julianne was doing her homework and the other girls were playing here and there. I was going in and out looking over homework, procuring snacks, checking the mail, -- all the things Moms do when I heard Julianne state very firmly and loudly, "Madelyn, Catherine inside the house RIGHT NOW." Curious at what would cause this urgent tone of voice, I glance outside only to see her run across the patio, grab Adam (who was standing up holding onto the slide) and race in the house. She slammed the door and sat down with Adam and then began sobbing. I asked her what on earth was wrong and she said, "A snake crawled onto the patio right next to Adam's feet and so I told everyone to come in and I ran and grabbed Adam."

I went outside and sure enough, this is what it looked like. . .

About pencil thin and the length of 2 pencils. I don't know my snakes very well, but I did know that it did not have a rattle, and it did not have red and yellow stripes next to each other ("red and yellow kills a fellow, red and black won't attack). It did not have a copper head or a diamond back. So I felt pretty confident that it was not venomous. (probably not the most reliable information I realize, but I did not have much else to go on).

Trent was not home, and so I knew that I would have to take care of it. I swept it into a dust pan and then took the dust pan to my neighbor's lot (they don't live there -- it is a construction site-- I would not do that to a neighbor). I went back a few minutes later, and it was gone. (Trent told me it probably came back into our yard).

I looked on the internet but could not figure out what kind of snake it is, but then some workers were working on my patio, and I showed them the picture and they knew immediately that it was a Texas Brown Snake. (not a very original name if you ask me). It is non-venomous and eats snails and slugs and is good to have around. (Well, I am not so sure I believe that last line about good to have around!)


Julianne must love Adam a whole lot to run right up next to the scary snake and rescue him. Sometimes courage is running into danger for the right reasons.