The Encounter

It was a quiet day in our gardens and

a perfect day to get some things done outdoors.

My best friend had been out there working for 2 hours;

she arrived while I was still resting.

I decided it was time to help her.

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She suggested several tasks;

I chose to clear the mess which has been under my son's window

for the last year or so.

You know boy things--like greasy clothes and other stuff.

I don't want to go into further details here--anyone who has had boys will understand and maybe even empathize with me.

I hope.

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At first it was relaxing (while being strenuous at the same time)

pulling weeds, moving the rocks which border the path and bed there,

and picking up the garbage.

--

The day was on the cool side, but not cold--

perfect for this type of physical labor.

Recent rains had made the soil soft and weeds weren't too hard to pull.

I was making good headway;

AND

my hubby man would be pleased!

--

One lawn bag full;

by this time I was sitting down to pull the weeds out, being of the lazy gardener sort.

I was pretty comfortable--maybe too much so.

Thinking back that was a mistake--a grievous error even.

-

I should have known not to relax and sit down on the job;

should have known that wasn't a safe thing to do in the garden

at this time of the year.

I moved on to the next rock,

not too much more left to do.

--

But first a recap here:

The first thing I had asked my best friend when I came out to help was if she had seen any visitors today; she said no.

You see we'd been having a lot of trouble with uninvited, unauthorized visitors on our property lately.

--

I moved the rock, just as I had done all the others.

Odd.

There was this thing under the rock.

A thing with a stripe--an orange one, I think--and it was curled up,

kind of like a brooch jewelry sort of thing.

Maybe?

--

Strange. It wasn't moving.

Could it be some kind of weird overgrown snail or maybe a shed skin thingee.

--

Hum.

I thought about poking it; maybe I did.

I don't recall now.

Was it dead?

--

Things seemed to move really fast after that...in fact

I lost track of the exact sequence of the events around this time.

I sort of went into a state of shock...

but I do remember asking my best friend,

a much braver and more knowledgeable person then I,

to come and take a look at this

odd discovery of mine.

AND

it was somewhere during this time (or before she got there) that she said it was

and I realized it was

--

A SNAKE!!!

--

You've never seen an antique granny of five move so fast while making such loud noises.

Honestly.

If you were in our area today at about 1 PM I'm sure you heard it;

there was NO way you couldn't have.

I must remember to apologize for the noise pollution to everyone in a 10

or maybe 20 mile radius of our property someday.

I know they'll understand;

after all I'm the type of person who screams when I see a snake on the ground as I whiz by safely on our lawn tractor--so it's not the first time they've heard it.
--

Moral of the story:

1. Always be prepared for unexpected visitors; you never know where, how or when they'll show up.
2. Never, ever--under any circumstances--move a rock in the garden without being prepared for a possible surprise under it; most likely it won't be a hidden treasure you will find there.
3. Hip boots and full body armour are a good and proper uniform for a granny weeding on a spring day in the NW. And the most important moral....
4. A creature that looks like a coiled up, totally immobile, snake-skin-brooch-orange striped, hiding under a rock thingee is most likely (meaning absolutely) a VERY live snake.

The End--I sincerely hope (of this story)

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Photo: a rock and weeds

And you thought I was going to post a photo of him???

Obviously you haven't read my snake posting policy here;

please understand that I'm a stickler for important policies like this.

I actually take personal pride in upholding firm standards and you really have to be when you are posting publicly -- I mean this is the Internet and this post is accessible by almost everyone.

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. Besides if we had to recreate the event for a photograph my friend would have been calling 911 for me;.

an antique heart like mine can only take so many encounters of this kind in a day.

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May your day be blessed with only flowers.

Blessings, aimee