Snakes, Swimming, Saying Hello

I am starting to think that one of my children must speak parseltongue as we seem to have more snake encounters than the average family. (read about one such snake encounter here or another snake encounter here) This cute little guy was right in my garage this morning when I went to load our stuff to go to the park. It is a ringneck snake and wikipedia assures me that it is only "slightly venomous" and not really a risk because its fangs are directionally challenged. (yeah -- that is not quite putting my mind at ease). One more little tidbit -- they are fast-- I managed to snap a photo and then grabbed a shovel to scoop it up and put it in the woods and it was long gone.



>
Then we headed to Kiwanis where we played in the sand and I hoped that I would not have to swim in the freezing water -- (all my time in TX this summer just reminded me how much I love warm water)



>




>
This is Adam playing with Eve! I love it!!! Adam and Eve!



>
In the end I did not have to swim, I got to follow around Owen and continually keep him from putting rocks, acorns, leaves, etc. . . in his mouth.  See him eyeing that rock???



>



All the girls in the frigid water!
>
My sweet, red headed, sand eating, soggy diaper, baby!



We all quickly showered and then went to the library where they were watching Beverly Hill Chihuahua 2 -- the kids have this thing for movies involving talking creatures.  Here is Owen trying to escape from the movie!!  He has learned to wave!

Another bird episode

 

I sent Madelyn outside to get a ball that had been left on the porch. She came in and said, "Mom, there is sure a big bird in the sun room." I thought I misunderstood her. "What??? a big ball???"

"NO, Mom a BIIIIG BIIIIIIRRRRRRDDDDD."

I opened the door and yep, a hawk or falcon of some kind is frantically flying through the screened in porch.

How????


No idea. The only thing I can think is that it was scared by the lawn crew yesterday and flew so hard into one of the screens that it pushed through, as there is one screen now where the corner is loose. And It was not loose before.

Well, I am off to clean the screened in porch. There are feathers and bird crap and regurgitated mouse entrails all over. Sounds like fun huh

So my ornithology classes are a good decade in the past -- but I am not sure what it is --

not a cooper hawk, not a peregrin, not a harris hawk

I am thinking maybe a red tailed juvenile? as it did not have the red tail??

come on Carrie or Dad. . . I expect identification . . . soon

What a turkey!

Now I know where that saying came from. We see wildlife around constantly, but the turkeys always surprise me. Here was one that came waddling through in the middle of a good snow. They are often noisy and a whole group of them came through on Thanksgiving (dumb huh?)

Nesting

Like any mother would, this bird is vigilantly guarding her nest. I am sure this mother (as all of us) carefully looked around to select the best place for her nest-- the safest place where she can raise her young uninfluenced by the world. I am sure this place seemed like a good idea. Quiet, serene, close to the water . . .

But then the pool opened for the summer! (Can you see her next to the tree???)

I wonder how long she will last there?

Snakes alive . . . and then dead

Last night, I put the girls to bed and then the phone rang. It was Trent. He was at Home Depot and was wondering if the water softener needed more salt, so I went outside to look. This was at about 8:20 pm. (and yes, in Texas water softeners are outside -- in fact ours is buried right in front of our house with bushes hiding it). I checked it and then saw our neighbor getting the mail. She and I wave a lot and rarely talk, but when we do talk we have a lot to talk about seeing as we rarely talk. So we are chatting and about 10 minutes later, out walks Julianne and Madelyn. They came out the back door and through the gate and then all the way down the driveway. They are hysterical. They are certain I have been abducted by aliens and are never coming home again. I calm them down and tell them to go lay on the couch and I would be in in a minute. They head in and not 2 minutes later they come back out, this time with the phone. Trent is on the line and he wants to know what kind of lettuce I want (romaine --in case your curious, since he is now grocery shopping for me at HEB and I emailed him a list to follow -- don't you just love blackberries!). I tell the girls to go in and this time they won't. Felicia and I continue to try to chat, but finally I sigh and say, "Well I have got to get these kids to bed -- so we'll catch up again soon." We head up the driveway and as we are about to walk through the gate this is blocking our way. . .

Now, it is really dark (and I don't have the outdoor lights on) and I can clearly see the black and the yellow stripes, but the red ones are hard to distinguish -- and I don't want to get too close. I rely on my ever stagnant snake knowledge "red and yellow kills a fellow, red and black friend of jack" But for the life of me I can't tell which color is where and I am not about to pick it up and ask it. The problem is, I cannot get in the house, the snake is effectively blocking us. Right then, Catherine (who is in the house) tries to come out. I scream, "Shut the door, SNAKE!!!!!!) She slammed the door and the blinds come flying up and I wish, I wish I had had my camera because her face with the wide eyes looking out through the bright lights of the door windows was priceless!

I told Julianne to run to the neighbor's and tell Felicia to get Bobby to get the snake. And Julianne ran, and my neighbor's ran and brought a shovel and axe and now the snake is history.

My neighbor ran off to dispose of it, and I did not get a picture. He yelled -- I think it has red and black together -- so I am supposing (hoping) that it was not poisonous.

Thank goodness for brave neighbor men!!!

Trent and I had been debating who had to go grocery shopping -- Trent felt he made the right choice after hearing about the snake!!!!

No, Really, You open the door.

We were headed to the garage to put the freshly cleaned carseats (4 of them) into the new van. As I walked out the back door, Trent was holding 3 of the carseats and leaning against the fence. He said, "Here, why don't you get the door . . ."

He had nearly touched the tree frog and was just waiting to see if I would notice.

Thank goodness we could get in through the big garage door with the keypad, because we were just gonna let this guy take his own time!

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.

Early, early morning

At 5:15 am this morning, Adam awoke. Trent went to get him out of bed and I went to the bathroom. As I walked through the bathroom, I saw it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a dark shadow run quickly from the middle of the bathroom floor to the toilet room. I muffled my scream knowing that 2 of my kids were asleep just feet away in my bed (why they were there is another post entirely) but I threw towels along the bottom of the door so that it could not escape. When Trent appeared with Adam, I informed him of our new little mouse friend in the bathroom. I went upstairs to feed Adam and Trent stated he would get ready, but that he would need my help so to hurry back after I put Adam down. Fifteen minutes later I was back and Trent was ready. He had blocked off all escape routes out of our bathroom and procured a broomstick, garbage can and even got socks and shoes on. We commenced in silence. Trent opened the door and then he saw it. . . and it was only a cockroach. He laughed and grabbed a magazine and the cockroach was a goner.

So, first, let me just say that I cannot believe the phrase "it was only a cockroach" is OK with me -- it is just that that is so much better than a mouse. And, second (as anyone who has ever been to my home can attest) MY HOUSE IS VERY CLEAN AND OREDERLY. The only thing we can think of is that the house next door is being built right now and driving all the current residents of the field toward us. My sister commented that maybe we could collect them -- and she is not all that far off. We had a turtle in the garage and lots of bunnies in the yard (Trent only got 2 of them with the lawn mower-- he did not see them). So yes, we are affectionately referring to the yard as the JUNGLE. And with all the rain, it really looks like one too!

Of Mice and Men

It was one week ago today when Trent and I were getting ready for an early bedtime because the next morning was the first day of school when we had our encounter with a mouse. We were both in our Pj's and had brushed our teeth, and our children were all asleep. I decided to run into the laundry room and just move the clothes to the dryer and start one more load. And just as I started the washer, I saw it. A small gray mouse run out from under the dryer just inches from my foot. So I did what every "Scientist, Naturalist" Mom would do-- which is -- scream at the top of my lungs! Trent peered through the laundry pass from the bathroom and asked what was wrong and then he came running. He had a plan, but I had to do exactly what he said. He grabbed a floor rug and a garbage can and closed the laundry room door and stuffed the rug along the crack so that no matter what the mouse would be contained. My job was to stand on the rug so that there was no way -- no how that that mouse was getting out. And then the fun began. Our laundry room is big enough that I have all the kids' craft supplies in plastic totes and drawer unitsstored in there. So we started moving craft stuff and laundry stuff and bending hangers to reach under the (now completely full of water and laundry) washer and dryer. In fifteen short minutes, the temperature in that room must have risen a good 10 degrees as Trent were both sweating a lot. And though we had had several chances the mouse was still evading capture. Our plan was to trap it under this smaller garbage can and then slide a file between the floor and the can to act as a lid and then carry the mouse outside to freedom. But things did not work so easily. . . We tried and tried and tried and tried and all we succeeded in doing was waking up Julianne. Who was talking to us through the laundry shoot upstairs and yelling at us to be quiet because she needed her sleep because she was starting school the next morning. We tried some more (a little quieter though) and after another 15 minutes had no luck when all of a sudden the mouse headed for the rug I was standing on and darn it if that little guy wasn't squeezing himself right underneath it in an effort to get out despite all the pressure I could muster on that rug. And right then we lost it . . . Trent grabbed a hammer and started banging that rug -- it had been so hard to catch it in that little room that we knew it would be a lost cause if it got out-- and so I am sad to say we are mouse killers. The whole time he was banging, I was trying hard not to throw up. The whole thing made me sick. And then he disposed of it and we spent the next hour and a half putting the room back together and cleaning it top to bottom. It led to a funny discussion of how that mouse got in the house and Trent said, "Well, who left the door open?" Which is especially funny if you have read the previous post "For the birds". Well, we were not quite as well rested on the first day of school as we would have liked to be, but what else could we do?????

Fire Ants

Last week after church, Madelyn stepped into a fire ant pile. She started screaming and I threw down all my stuff and started to get them off her. But they got her good. They must attack with a plan -- none of them bite until at least 50 of them are ready and then they all bite at once. She had about 40 bites on one leg and 10 or so on the other. The looked awful. So consider this your warning. . . When in Texas -- don't play with ants!

Ward Campout

Last night was our ward campout. It was at Stephen F. Austin Campground. It took about 40 minutes to get there and it was a nice place. The weather was perfect for camping. We were completely comfortable (temperature wise) in our sleeping bags. The kids loved it! Trent and I had a good time.

I think the reason kid's love camping is because the don't do all the work to get ready and they just come home and resume normal life. Meanwhile, I am going to be doing laundry for days!!!!

We saw deer as we entered the park and then about 10:00 p.m. we saw racoons. These were bold racoons. We were all sitting around the campfire roasting marshmallows and one guy came within 5 feet of us. Trent, (being the brave father of the group) brazenly took two marshmallow skewers and clicked them together (think parent trap) trying to chase the racoon away. It gave all the kid's a good laugh and I am pretty sure we could hear the raccon chuckling in the tree above us.

The kids were in bed at 11:00 and up at 7:00. And I think maybe we slept a little in between. All the kids crashed on the way home (except Catherine) and Madelyn fell asleep tonight at 6:30. Julianne and Catherine are watching TV . . . but they are being very, very quiet (unusual for them) and I won't be surprised if they are asleep in there. . .

For The Birds (or to be more precise -- the bird)

Yesterday, we left for school and Trent was about ready to leave for work. When we rode back in the driveway, I was surprised to see his car still here. As I walked into the house, things were quite a bit disheveled. There were several cabinet doors open and bowls and lids everywhere. Trent then walked out of our bedroom (in "play" clothes, not work clothes) and asked (rather sternly) "Is the back door closed?" He continued on "You guys need to keep that door closed. It is ridiculous that you leave it open." He then proceeded to tell us that. . .

"After you guys left, Iwent back into our closet when I heard someone in the bathroom. I was scared thinking someone had come into the house. And something had . . . A bird. A big, black and gray bird. It was flying all over, crashing into the windows and crapping everywhere. It was mad at me and creating quite a scene. I ran through the house shutting doors trying to get it contained. Finally I had it in our bedroom in the sitting area. It kept flying into the window and finally got stuck in the blinds. I got a garbage can and trappped it in the garbage can and then got it untangled from the blinds and used a file folder as a lid and got it outside. All the while the bird was going crazy!."

Trent looked a little worse for the wear. He was hot and sweaty and visibly shaking! Oh we wished we could have watched! He assured me that if this had happened while I was home I would simple have left and left him a note saying I would be back when the bird was gone!