What A Wake Up Call......

[bluesypicky]

I'm an insomniac. Very rarely do I get a good night sleep (gift from my Dad's genes I guess), and very often, the best sleep I get is in the wee hours of the morning after I finally fall asleep after all these hours went by trying.
As a result, it's very hard for me to wake up, and even rarer for me to wake up fresh and well rested. Logically, I'm not a morning person.
This morning was the worst possible scenario: I was sound asleep (around 8:30am) enjoying a "battery recharging" Sunday morning, when I'm abruptly awaken by a hysterically screaming spouse, yelling to me at the top of her lungs "THERE'S A SNAKE IN THE HOUSE! THERE'S A SNAKE IN THE HOUSE!"
Gotta love these wake up calls.

I stumble out of the bed, get in my flip flops, and sure enough, we had an uninvited guest: (apologies for the crappy out of focus cell pic)

I then went to the shed in the yard and grabbed my favorite snake welcoming tool, a square shovel, and cut the thing in three pieces while the wife was having a nervous breakdown locked up in the bedroom with a towel rolled up at the bottom of the door.
To help her connect back with life, I called her out of the bedroom to show her the snake pieces on the shovel (the contraction reflexes of the severed tail kinda freaked her still, but she was able to relax somewhat after watching me throw the "snake kit" over the fence and into the canal.

Sorry all of you snake lovers out there, but while I understand the role of snakes in the eco system, I do not enjoy their presence around my house, let alone inside. As a result, any snake found roaming around my residence is a dead snake.

Hopefully I get a good night sleep tonight. :grumpy:

 

[killdeer43]

You did what you had to do. :smile-new:
Did you ID the snake before tossing it into the canal?

Curious Joe

 

[bluesypicky]

Did you ID the snake before tossing it into the canal?Curious Joe

Oh yes. I see those all the time. We call them "yard snakes", they're all over and not poisonous, black with a white belly, usually between 2 and 3 feet long.
Not sure what the scientific name is, maybe other Floridian members can chime in?

My next assignment is getting some snake repellent (any suggestion?) and spread it all around the house and at bottom of every outside door.....

 

[dapmdave]

Maybe a black racer. Common around here and they like to come in and visit. They'll bite, but are not poisonous.

Pam scared one out from under our trash bin one day and it tried to bite her foot. Luckily, she was wearing shoes.

 

[bluesypicky]

Maybe a black racer. Common around here and they like to come in and visit. They'll bite, but are not poisonous.

Pam scared one out from under our trash bin one day and it tried to bite her foot. Luckily, she was wearing shoes.

Here ya go.

 

[FNG]

http://www.blackbearheaven.com/worldrecordrattlesnakebiggestrattlesnake.htm

Caught in St. Augustine Florida in a subdivision. Now that's a snake!!

Here's a pic of my grandson with a rattler I found ran over near his house. My kid had to go get it to take some pics. Little Bubba wouldn't get any closer than that, and had to have the big stick in his hands to get that close.

 

[charliea]

If a snake comes into my house (uninvited) he'll have to duke it out with the lizards and spiders for a decent meal. Every now and then the cats will bring one in, either a rat snake or one of those black ones with a red band. We rescue those, if possible, and put them back where they belong. I'll worry about snakes when they develop opposable thumbs (or any thumbs, for that matter). We don't have venomous snakes by the way, so I don't worry about that.

 

[coastie99]

Pascal, all sympathies for your poor wife and you, and for your insomnia. A regularly disturbed sleep-pattern is not a pleasant thing to have.

But, I have an hilarious vision of a snake "roaming" around your home. That somehow suggests that the snake would have tiny legs and I see it scoping the contents of your fridge looking for a cold one.

 

[coastie99]

"If a snake comes into my house (uninvited)"

Charliea, when you "invite" a snake in, is this a very formal sort of thing ? A written card ? Does the A S P have to R S V P ? Is there an expected standard of dress ?

Don't think we've done Snake Humour before.

 

[davismanLV]

Don't think we've done Snake Humour before.

Well, then it's nigh on time we did!! I don't mind snakes as long as they're not the poisonous ones. But I don't like ANY snake in my house. I have not seen a snake since moving to Las Vegas. Used to deal with them all the time in Southern California in my youth in a rural area.

I sleep well most of the time, although I occasionally wake up between 1 and 3 am and it's frustrating. I keep Tylenol PM on hand for those times. Take ONE and it'll make you drowsy fairly quickly. Take two and you're gonna go OUT but you'll have a "hangover" from the higher dose of antihistamine. I really find they help me get to, or get BACK to sleep.

I used to run out into the garage in my bare feet until Don found a scorpion out there. Don't do that anymore......

 

[coastie99]

(a) dose of antihistamine.

Well, that ought to keep snakes out !!

 

[rampside]

No insomnia for the snakes around my place. They go to sleep sometime in the fall and sleep straight through for the next six months.:untroubled:

 

[twocorgis]

Pascal, your bride sounds just like mine. Mrs. Two even gets freaked out by pictures of snakes! Glad to hear you gave the varmint his due.

 

[walrus]

Just an FYI, "Snakes on a Plane" is showing late this afternoon and tonight on the IFC (Independent Film Channel).

walrus

 

[southernGuild]

Great story Pascal! What a wake up!
Here's one for you and your wife. I loved this one as a kid and love it still. Al Wilson........'The Snake.'

 

[southernGuild]

My next assignment is getting some snake repellent (any suggestion?) and spread it all around the house and at bottom of every outside door.....

Well, in a word......Urine.
It's said 'round here that if you urinate around the property borders ( No need to pee on the doors!), the snakes figure out that some larger critter ( Likely dangerous to them) is nearby.....and they just go elsewhere. It's worked for me so far.
Ahhhh, Life in the country..........Try this in the suburbs, you may get arrersted. :frog:

 

[Zelja]

I'll pass that tip onto my work mate John - he was mowing the grass when a 2 to 3 metre red bellied black snake came slithering out of the bushes near his house. Somehow it got tangled up with the lawn mower blades & sadly departed this world.

 

[southernGuild]

Poor Ol' Red Belly.
A Red Bellied Black Snake is actually a good snake to have on your property. Pretty docile. They shy away from people, and eat any rats mice, snails, etc, and as an extra bonus, they keep the mean poisionous little snakes away too.
Stumbling upon one can sure scare the life outta a person though.

 

[Zelja]

Yeah, he, ermm , soiled himself. He's down your way too, around Robertson I think.

 

[Christopher Cozad]

...sure enough, we had an uninvited guest...

You are such a thoughtful person to take the time to first, after assessing the emergency situation and seeing the intruder, to then go and find your cellphone before you have had any coffee and second, to actually take the time to take a photograph of the uninvited guest in order to share it with the rest of us... it brings a tear to my eye...I wish everyone was so thoughtful.

I ... cut the thing in three pieces

I realize I am being selfish here and am capitalizing on your tragedy but, as you are now a firsthand witness and I am trying to deepen my understanding of design, can you tell me if the image in the photo below resembles any of the three pieces rendered by your shovel?

;~}