An Unwelcome Guest

"Hey, Mom.  There's a snake down there."  

Those 7 words have completely altered the way I walk in the front yard.  Up until this point, I believed that all outdoor "invaders" magically knew the boundaries of our lot and kindly kept off our property.  Not so.  Our yard has become a favorite nesting place for LONG garter snake.  The sneaky, slithery thing first emerged under a bush in the front yard rock garden.  I kept my cool in front of the kids, but immediately crossed "trimming the front bushes" off of my mental list of outdoor jobs.  My assumption was that once the snake sensed we were near  he would make himself scarce, preferably in the neighbor's yard.  Unfortunately, the little bugger had other plans and in no time flat, it had made it's way along side the house... right below the water faucet.  If it thought it could blend in with the hose it was wrong.  We watched him for some time until he got startled and disappeared behind the siding of the house!  Again, I kept my cool but suggested to Dan that we might want to close the windows of the house just in case it could find it's way through the sill.  I also questioned that if one could so easily find it's way up the side of our house, how many others were currently nesting there with him?


Well, eventually he came back out of his hiding place and continued his quest for safety, eventually finding his way to the cement crack between our porch and sidewalk.  I'd like to think his retreat to that particular spot was a one time thing, but the remains of his most recent molt (nestled just inside the crack) suggest otherwise.


I'm hopeful we can learn to co-exist.  Dan has been providing some sensitivity training for me, insisting that garter snakes are really harmless.  Our neighbor, Bob, reminded me that I should be grateful for our new guest because it will help keep down the mouse population.  Considering I was in denial of mice being anywhere near our house, too, this thought provided me no comfort whatsoever.


The lesson is this.  If you are ever visiting and I avoid making eye-contact with you because my eyes are glued to the ground, don't take offense.  It's just me avoiding this guy.