Shortly after sunrise (7:30 am) Marshall and I began our least favorite lawn project....raking leaves from along the chain link fence on the east side of the house. Every year we mutter "why didn't we mow/mulch one more time last fall."
Carefully we scooped up assembled piles of brittle leaves, dumping them into heavy duty brown paper leaf bags.....until I noticed something wriggling and writhing at my feet!! I squealed! Sudden exposure to the 55 degree morning air had roused a resident baby garter snake. Disturbed from his hidey space, he coiled himself and began his threatening "strike gestures." Our angry reptile could sense where we were and aimed his wide open pink mouth in our direction.
Wondering what to do we decided to put a purple plastic flower pot close to him as a signal to ourselves to walk a wide path. Neither of us wanted to relocate Mr. Snake via rake and risk him slithering up the handle toward us. Such "nervous Nellies!"
Marshall monitored the snake's location.....all the while chatting with it......"the sun will come out...it will warm up." After a while Marshall (the naturalist) decided to use a long stick to move this chilled harbinger of summer to a spot close to a fence post. Periodically he checked on the snake while offering further words of encouragement......the Snake Whisperer.....probably not for hire!
Getting physical
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Training sessions have been going really well these past few weeks. I
swim, lift, and run on my own (or with the masters swim team) during the
week, and o...
12 years ago
1 comment:
I can just picture this scene. Good for Marshall. Marshall is very considerate of people. He is also protective of a poor little garter snake. Thanks to the warm winter, Marshall the snake whisperer might be in demand this spring and summer. We may have an overabundance of creatures that crawl. Global warming! Yeah Marshall. Yeah Ellen. Looking out for God's creatures.
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