SNAKE!!!

After living in Texas for 4 years, I've finally had my first snake in the house encounter. And I wasn't even part of it. Shawn told me about it after the fact because we all know how I am about snakes.

I guess when he got up this morning and let the cats out, the rug by the front door was all wobble jawed. As he was straightening it, he noticed something roughly snake like partially covered by the rug at one end. He just figured it was one of the cat toys and went over to pick it up, that's when he noticed it looked remarkably like a snake and none of the cat toys are snakes. After poking and prodding at it with the edge of the rug, he figured it was dead, but when he went to pick it up by sliding paper under it, it moved. So he corralled it out the front door. That's when he came and told me about it.

Of course, because I'm afraid of snakes, I started quizzing him about what it looked like and whether it was poisonous or not. He made me go to the front door and poke my head out so I could see it. And it was NOT a poisonous snake, but I didn't know what kind it was so we went to the study and started searching for small brown snakes with heads the same width as the body on Herps of Texas. After about 10 minutes of searching, we figure it was a Common Ground Snake.

At about this point is when I decide I ought to take a picture so I go back outside with my camera, but alas, the snake slithered away while we were info searching. As one of my coworkers used to say, "No proof, no snake."

But, now we have to figure out how it got into the house...and there are so many options:
1) It came in through the back door. We had the sliding door open last night and the screen door doesn't shut all the way leaving plenty of room for small critters to get into the house.
2) It came in through the garage door. The actual garage doors aren't exactly sealed perfectly and always allow for small animals to find their way into the garage. But at night, when the cats aren't allowed outside, they are allowed in the garage, and usually the door from the house to the garage is wide open for an hour or so.
3) Quazi had gone outside this morning and had come back in by the time Shawn found the snake, so he could have brought it back in the house with him. This option is unlikely though because he isn't known to carry things around the house like IV is. Plus the rug was wobble jawed before he went outside.

And we're also figuring that Quazi was the one that was playing with the snake and was the one that got the rug all screwwed up--IV tends to meow loudly if she's got some prize, and a live snake would be quite the prize. Plus she is known for carrying items all over the house so she would have picked it up and brought it into the bedroom to show us. Trust me. She's brought us a live cockroach before...while we were still in bed...she put it by my arm...yeah...THAT was fun.

Grow Green Garden Fest

Happening at Zilker Botanical Gardens this Sunday from noon to 4.

Draco Gardens

I went up and visited Bob, his wife, Lyn and their two dogs (Pepper and Bonnie) on Monday to get the brackets that Bob was nice enough to make for me. He also threw in some soaker hose irrigation systems that he was getting rid of.

As an aside: My goodness, at the rate that Annie and Bob are getting me set up, I should be able to actually keep something alive around here. :) And Thanks, once again. (I'll post pictures soon of finished plantings/products)

After driving down the drive way, in which there were parts where I questioned my sanity of taking the Fit, Bob and Lyn showed me around their garden area (broccoli has been allowed to go to flower because as Lyn says "sometimes, you can have too much broccoli", but cabbages and lettuce were still going strong), as well as the pond area. Bonnie (the blue lacy) kept me informed of the movements of the fish, as well as shared her chewie with me and Pepper was just a little love bug.

I meant to take my camera, but forgot it. Which is probably just as well--now I've got a reason to go out to Bob and Lyn's again sometime. :)

The part that I find the funniest, of course, is the fact that while I was driving down the rural road toward their house I kept saying to myself "hunh...this looks soooo familiar." About 5 minutes later I passed the sign for the ranch where Shawn's company usually has their picnics.

Rain?

OMFG! It finally...what's the word again? oh right! RAINED! down here last night/this morning. I am amazingly excited about this.

I did not, however have any time to go out and check to see how much rain we got. but the point is. we got rain.

Also. I went over to Annie's (at the Transplantable Rose) house to pick up some rain lilies. She also was very generous and gave me a loquat seedling. :)