Baby Snakes

So, I don't like snakes. I used to not care about snakes either way until one horrible hot summer day. My cat was acting strangely in the basement. I went to investigate. He was playing with something... I went closer to see... and it was a baby snake! There were, in fact, several baby snakes squirming around in my basement. They must have been sunning in our driveway and gotten too hot, so they slipped into the cool garage and then into the basement. There were several more incidences of snakes coming into the basement that summer.

That is when the irrational fear of snakes started. Ever since then, I even freak out if I see a stick on the ground out of the corner of my eye that might be a snake. I am quite disappointed in myself, because I sort of pride myself in not being a girly girl. What makes it worse is that my yard is full of snakes. They're just the little garden kind, but snakes just the same. When I mow the lawn I am forever almost stepping on them or accidentally chopping them to bits with the lawnmower. I actually feel bad when this happens even though we are not friends. They constantly freak me out as I walk up to my house because they are sunning on the sidewalk or creeping around in the bushes.

We've been having an early spring here in Oregon. The bulbs have started to come up already. I saw the first robin redbreasts about a week ago. I even saw that the slugs have woken up and started to eat my garden. Two days ago I saw a little snake. Of course, I jumped in the air and make an embarrassing girly noise. Then, I thought, it sure is cold and early in the year for that little snake to be awake, but I figured he knew what he was doing, using his instincts and all. Then, last night when I came home I saw him on my sidewalk too cold to move. First, I yelped, but then began to worry. Even though he was icky I didn't want him to die. I wondered what to do. Mick's idea was to put him in a box and bring him in the house. I immediately dismissed this as beyond reasonable. I talked to my son mentaljr to see if he had any ideas. He said, why don't you use a lamp to warm him up. Brilliant! I got out a lamp with an incandescent bulb and put it pretty close to him.

He started to wiggle a little. However, an hour later he hadn't really moved. I couldn't leave the lamp out all night and risk a fire (not water-safe, and this is Portland after all), so I left him in the dark. When I got up in the morning he was still there. I assumed he was a gonner. But, when I got home from work, he wasn't there any more!