Friday, September 11, 2009

Snakes and Snails...

Years ago, my mother befriended a snake who came up through the walls of her old house and made a nest in her linen closet. I don't remember what kind of snake it was, not sure I ever knew, but it obviously wasn't poisonous. She said it looked at her as if it knew her. It wasn't afraid of her, nor she of it.

This summer, Tom made friends with a little garter snake in our back yard. It likes the pond, likes to take a dip in the heat of the afternoon. (No fool, he. We've had lots of those super hot afternoons this summer.)
Here it is peering at Tom over the edge of the pond. (The concrete at the top of the picture is my house foundation. At the bottom is the pond edge.) That's as close as the snake gets to going into the water when it knows someone's watching, but Tom often sees it slither from the big sage bush at the corner of my herb garden and into the pond at the other end. (I see nothing when I'm outside, at least nothing smaller than Max.) I worried about the little fishies at first--we have three goldfish--but they seem to have fared well.

Today's the first really coolish day we've had since last spring--I think it's still only in the 70s. Come on, fall!

3 comments:

LindaGJ said...

ooooooo.....The snake is out for Halloween, you think? LOL! I just visited a Halloween site and that's what made me think of that!
Hope your fish are ok!
Linda :)

That Girl Ang said...

I see the skin of one in the bushes of my back yard.... If I catch him one thing is for sure.. he won't fair a well as Your mom of Tom's.. LOL


I'd throw him in the neighbor's yard....hahahahah psych... I'd just stand there and scream!

TexNan said...

Thanks for commenting, you guys. Linda, the snake's been using the pond all summer. I don't worry about the fish anymore. And Ang, please don't hurt the snake! (You can scream all you want.) Unless he's poisonous, of course. I wouldn't ask you to keep one of those around, but garter snakes are good for your garden.