A little off humor for the day.Today Grayson, Evye, and Aubrey were playing outside in the farthest carport. They wanted in the trailer to play house so I let them unlock it and play in and around that area as usual. Evye was barefooted and Aubrey had on flip flops while Grayson had on sandals. He came in yelling about finding a snake. Mother has been here for the weekend so we both put our boots on and took our time getting out there. There, curled up next to a board, was a decent sized baby snake. After not really being at a good angle to see it I finally just got a stick and flicked it in a deep bucket Grayson had gotten. We messed with it in the bucket and got it to strike a few times at the stick trying to decide what kind it was. After seeing so many rat snakes now I just figured the likelihood of a real rattlesnake is nearly non existent.....especially for it to be the 1st snake spotted of the season. So, after getting it kind of rowdy I told Grayson to let it go in the pasture since it was, afterall, a rat snake and we needed it for the rats. Grayson, after begging to kill it and being told repeatedly by me that it was NOT a rattlesnake, finally gave up trying to convince me. He asked that instead of dumping it if we could keep it until it got a little bigger so that the owls wouldn't eat it. I said "sure" that was fine with me. When Brad got home they could decide what to do with it and how to keep it. I thought about it a little longer and then realized Brad would probably want pics since there's nothing better to do at the station on a slow Sat. So, I figured it'd cheer his day up...though by now we've seen many rat snakes. We couldn't get any good pics in the bucket so finally I just decided to dump him out in the middle of the driveway in the sunlight to see if we could warm him up and get him a little more active. Rat snakes are fun to play with since they're so aggressive. We dumped him out and got some good pics after poking and prodding him and then warming him up to snake along the rocks. Once moving he moved much quicker then we all gave him credit for and he took shelter under Mother's boot. Not typical for a rat snake who chooses to stay and fight with you! The tail to me was no great indicator of what kind of snake it was since every rat snake I've seen I've been absolutely convinced was a real rattlesnake. So, everything that should've been an indicator I just dismissed since every time we've seen a snake I've been told that it's NOT a rattlesnake. Anyway, he completely crawled under Mother's boot from one side to the other and then decided he'd take shelter under it and proceeded to coil up completely under it. The pic is of him backing up under her boot to hide! HA! Anyway, she picked her boot up and exposed him again once he was completely under it and we'd had about all of the fun we wanted with him so I tried getting him back in the bucket. I finally got him back in there and Grayson made a nice cozy habitat for him. We lowered a big rock down there for him to coil up under and then Grayson put all kinds of vegetation in for him. I downloaded the pics and sent them to Brad for him to get a look at and then called him to go see our new friend. It took too long and we both wanted to lay down so he gave up and went to take a nap and I laid down on the couch. Grayson kept coming in saying the snake was climbing out due to all of the tree branches and in my irritation of continually being awakened I just said irritably "Go stick him back in there!" So, he did. As I'm finally drifting off again the phone starts ringing incessantly. Frustrated, I just tuned it out. It kept ringing and Brad kept calling back. Finally I had Evye answer it and Brad, in a more than alarmed voice ,asked where the snake was. I told him he was out in the bucket in the carport up close and Grayson was playing with him! HA! Brad about had a fit. So, as we all know by now.....I was then enlightened to the fact that it was indeed the real thing this time. Not really knowing exactly how easy it is to kill it I asked Brad what to do with it. We debated on who to call since there's a million people that would come over. We finally decided on the neighbors so he called the preacher who then came over with his wife and smashed it with the handle end of the hoe! I could've done that much!!!! I figured he was going to chop his head off or something and shoot it.......like Grayson was begging to do. Anyway, we all stood staring at it and I asked him to please share with me the difference between a rat snake and a real rattlesnake. So, we got an in depth lesson today on the differences. I felt bad for Grayson since he tried and tried to tell me and I kept telling him he was wrong and to be quiet. Apparently each grade had a little lesson about them after having found that one on the school sidewalk. So, he did know. Anyway, after being told over and over again that he was wrong he finally gave up trying to convince me! So sad. And, yes, I had to apologize afterward. So, now we sit with a dead rattlesnake on top of our garage freezer as it awaits target practice for Grayson once Brad gets off shift Mon morning. He was on shift yesterday, he's overtime today and is on shift again tomorrow so he'll be gone a full 72 hrs. It was kind of sad and funny how upset it made him. Talk about a nervous wreck! I guess it is a little alarming that we actually played with one. But, I guess I can really say now that my fear of them has dwindled considerably. At least I can say I've messed with one now and it's not quite as big a deal as I thought it would be. Now, my biggest concern is the children playing. But, after having seen one, he was incredibly afraid and only looked to get away. He only struck when provoked. He was too afraid of Grayson and the stick to challenge him so that wasn't too bad. Mother's only seen bigger ones while out hunting so she wasn't familiar with what a baby looks like. This one was guessed to be 2 yrs old and the ones she has seen have been about 4 based on the differences between the 2. Apparently we all got a good lesson today!
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