Reptile Encounter

As I was walking back to the from having visited the beautiful grands that live across the street, I viewed something that was not present when I left a few minutes earlier. Under a wooden chair that I am using for a project, was a black mass that looked like a wadded up bungee cord. Just as I slowed my pace to investigate it was no longer a wad, but a long striking snake. Thankfully, it was striking at a cat that walked up on it, and not me.

I had many thoughts run through my mind about that snake. Although I gathered my shovels and the potato rake and prepared for battle, ultimately I decided to let him/her live. That snake has it's job to do. Since it was a black racer, it was probably there to lounge around before getting down to the business of eating one of the thousands of lizards I have in my yard.

Let me share a few of the thoughts that went through my mind :
1) Maybe it is poisonous and it could hurt me or one of the children. Well the only way that snake was going to hurt me was if I fell over something or had a heart attack trying to get away from it.
2) I wonder why that cat did not kill it. From the way the cat moved a few feet and stretched out, I am going to assume she was not hungry and the heat was making her lazy.
3) God created snakes for a purpose and I should not kill that snake if it is not bothering me. Well the fact that it was on my carport was bothering me, but it was not in my house so I drove it away with my shovel.
4) Why did my dad used to say I was mean as a snake?
5) Did Billy think I was mean as a snake?

It amazes me how many thoughts can run through my head in the course of making a decision. I put away my tools, closed the garage, prayed not to encounter any more snakes and came to the computer to verify that I had made a good decision in letting the snake live (Googled Florida snakes.)Now I know that out of the fifty kinds of snakes in Florida, only six kinds are venomous. I also have found that when I try to have a constructive day and get a lot done, invariably some crazy thing will happen.

Until Later ~ Rita Darlene