Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Seriously - What's going on?

I was outside weeding in the side yard this afternoon. Nora was with me. I'm minding my own business, pulling weeds, wishing I had watered the ground this morning so I could actually get the roots out and I hear a rustling. I look up, expecting to see Nora doing something near me. Nope. It was a snake slithering away from me with something in its mouth. I F.R.EAKED out! I yelled to Nora to get inside the fence and ran in there myself. The fence is only waist height so we stood on the other side and watched as it slithered to the opposite side of the air conditioner. I could see its tail and I threw a rock at it to see if it would move. Nope. So I carefully stepped outside of the gate and tip toed over to a better viewing area and saw that it was eating a frog. I had thoughts of sitting there watching it eat the frog, but I was a bit too panicked to do that - and Nora was inching her way out of the backyard, too, to see what was going on. As brilliant as I am, I realized that we could probably see it from the dining room window. Nora and I ran into the house and perched on the window sill and watched for 45 minutes as this thing inhaled the frog. I was fascinated. Nora - not so much:)

This is the snake eating the frog. You may have to click on the picture to get a closer view. The head and the frog blend in with the rocks.

Here is the snake after eating the frog. You can see a big bulge right after its head.

It was pretty fascinating to watch. The frog was still alive when we first got to the window. I didn't think the snake would be able to swallow the big, fat belly of the frog because the snakes head was so small, but obviously I don't know anything.

So I'm a bit worried about this snake business. First, I need to announce that I'm really sick of all of these animals coming to our house uninvited. Dog - okay. Fish - okay. Tadpoles - okay. Racoons - not so much. Snakes - definitely not so much. Second, I'm worried about letting the girls play outside. I don't know where this snake lives, don't know if it is poisonous (anyone I talk to says that we don't have poisonous snakes in Chicago, but this one was black with some red/orange on it - I thought red was a danger sign in nature). Even if it doesn't live in our backyard, it still traveled through the backyard to get to the side yard. What if it lives in the side yard? We have so many weeds that need to be pulled, now I can't do it. I don't think I can even walk through the grass on that side of the yard anymore (you know it will only be on THAT side of the yard, the other side of the yard is completely safe;). What if the girls are minding their own businesses and walk through some leaves that the snake is hiding in and it bites one of them?

We're having a barbecue on Memorial Day and I'm trying to get the backyard looking somewhat presentable. Oh and how about that? What if our new pet bites one of our guests? Oh I needed this situation like a hole in the head.

10 comments:

Anonymous 10:28 PM  

HOLY COW!!!!! That sucker is HUGE! Nice image to view before going to bed! LOL! This is the same snake we had swimming in our pool (well, obviously not the SAME snake;)& because of the straight, gray line down it's back, Mitch says it's a gardener snake. I certainly wouldn't trust Mitch though. LOL! :)

Anonymous 10:31 PM  

PS - poor froggie. :(

Anonymous 8:15 AM  

Ok, between you and Melissa! I tell ya :)
GROSS, GROSS, GROSS that's all I have to say! GROSS :o

kkoois 9:02 AM  

I got the heebies (sp?) just reading this post. And I feel the tension of your situation. I'm so sorry you have to deal with that. If you would like, you can move with our family to Antartica to avoid the bugs and critters of this kind. We can live next door to each other!

Keep me updated on the situation. I feel for you!

Jen 12:47 PM  

Sell your house NOW! Frogs~good. Snakes~BAD!! I know nothing about snakes~execpt of course that they are the physical embodiment of Satan! If that's a garter snake, that's the biggest one I've ever seen.

Run like the wind my friend. . .

Anonymous 7:52 AM  

a good snake is a dead snake!!!!

Doni Brinkman 10:49 AM  

That's it. I am cancelling my plane reservations and I am NOT coming to your BBQ now;)

Doni Brinkman 10:50 AM  

AND I would like to echo every word of Jen's comment!

Anonymous 12:06 PM  

How'd the BBQ go??? Any unexpected guests?

Josh Leo 10:32 AM  

yeah it's just a garter snake... They are fun to catch and hold... but they can get angry when you are holding them, the other times they just slither away in fear... no worries there. everyone in your household is safe, just don't dress your girls up as frogs for halloween :)

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