They Got Their Chance...

...to rescue us that is. And boy was I glad! Tommy did not believe that the girls had seen a "huge snake". I don't think the boys believed them either. Those of us that saw their pale faces and their little trembling selves did though. We all chose to believe that the snake was just passing through and not living in the bush outside of our garage or we would not have wanted to go outside ever again :)

We were sitting in the garage yesterday evening watching heavy rain fall as a storm passed over and discussing our disappointment of another game cancellation. All of sudden, my husband's clip board full of game plans goes flying along with his lawn chair and he jumped back, I mean jumped in between me and a huge snake that came out from under the bush just outside of the garage. After a second to collect himself, he did grab a hockey stick and thankfully Jacob was not afraid to help and the two of them wrangled him into a bucket. Jacob was very brave, and did not seem afraid at all. He is the one in the video picking up the snake, playing with it, and then putting it into the bucket. He watched a LOT of Crocodile Hunter growing up and loves Survivor Man too.

Now much to my disappointment, we could not kill a "good snake". So, after tiring him out and letting everyone inspect it as much as they cared to, everyone (except me and Rose) took him to some nearby woods and let him go. Hopefully, never to return. Please don't tell me if you think it's possible that a wayward snake can find his way back "home" . You know like the stories you hear of dogs and cats traveling miles and finding their way back. I really wish the poor creature no harm, I just don't want to share my yard with him ;)

And like any good homeschooling family, we did some research about local snakes. We discovered that our snake is a rat snake. The only kind of snake in Virginia that grows over six feet in length. If your curious and want to see lots of neat snake pictures check out The Virginia Herpetological Society. Even the pictures give me the "willies".