HOUSE FOR SALE!!!

You want to hear me scream like a little girl?  Just come to Arizona they said.  Yes there might be the occasional humongous spider on your bathroom wall, or maybe scorpions in your washing machine, but hey ... the desert is beautiful, even in the morning sunrise.

The trouble with that is you can't SEE in the early morning hours when you let the dogs out and walk barefoot across the patio.  Later on when it's light and you let them out again ..... THAT'S when you hear the screams!!!

I suppose everyone knew it was going to happen but me.  I thought my defenses, meaning wire on the  bottom of the gates was enough to deter even the smallest of snakes.  Of course I was WRONG!!  Here I was, minding my own business making sure the dogs did theirs, when I looked over to the access hole on the far side.  

WAIT .. WHAT????  Is that what I think it is????  HOLY CRAP IT'S A SNAKE!!!  I got within fifteen feet to discover it was a rattler.  At least I thought it was ... I didn't see any rattles.

I screamed at the puppies to get inside and ran for my phone.  I screamed at Miss Patty who thankfully answered and then I screamed at Dan to PLEASE come kill a snake in my back yard.  Thank goodness they are early risers!!  I waited on the patio, my heart in my throat.

I know I've told you about my mother making sure us kids had a deathly fear of snakes.  When we were in the mountains at Cow Camp, there were HUGE rattlers everywhere.  One day she caught my brother and his friend throwing a snake back and forth at each other.  She did such a good job of convincing me, that for about ten years, I wouldn't even touch a magazine that had a PICTURE of a snake in it.  Yes, it's a viper ... poisionous for sure ... just look at the shape of that head.

I ran to get my shovel, my heart still racing like I was running a marathon.  Thank goodness when I returned, it was still there.  It's relatively small, about the thickness of my thumb and maybe 18 inches long.  I didn't care one whit.  He's got to go!!!

I'm not the least bit sorry to say he went over the rainbow to Snake Heaven.  He put up a good fight, striking many times while slithering underneath a patio stone.  NOT SORRY, especially since now I'm scared to let my puppies outside.  I now go out first with shovel in hand!!!

My mom taught lessons well.  I couldn't calm down.  I finally took a big shot of Baileys in my coffee.  

That didn't help one bit.  Maybe ice cream will work!!!  At long last six hours later I calmed down.

For those following the hurricane, here it is bearing down on Florida.  The last I heard it was going to be a category 5.  That's HUGE with 200 mph winds.  The red dot on the left is our friends Nick and Terry.  I'm sending them lots of good luck and love.

Here's what the rest of my day looked like.  Alert after alert came through as a huge lightning storm passed over.  No pictures this time, it was too big, too close and too wet to be outside.

If you will excuse me now, I'm headed out to the back yard with my Mag flashlight and a shovel.  No the house really isn't for sale, YET, but it did cross my mind.  I'm brave when it comes to spiders and scorpions, but SNAKES??  Not so much!!