How to Handle a Snake

I've had several experiences with snakes over the years.  Many of them when I was much younger, but the stories here occurred within about a three month period while I was living in Wylie, Texas.  While I am not terrified of snakes, these encounters were a little bit too close for comfort.

One evening I heard one of my dogs barking incessantly on the back porch and opened the door to peer outside.  It was nighttime and I did not have my glasses on but I saw what I thought was a "large pile" on the porch outside the master bedroom and thought to myself, "How did  either of my little bitty dogs make a pile that large?"  I retrieved my glasses and headed out to clean off the porch, but as I stepped out with my vision fully intact I saw that the pile was a pile of snake and it started slithering off.  After I returned with a shovel, the snake was quickly dispatched and both pieces were disposed of.

A couple of weeks later I was headed to bed and walking through the living room I turned off the light, but not before I saw a flash of movement under one of the chairs.  Upon closer inspection I found that it was a very small snake, about 6 inches long.  I scooped it up with a nearby newspaper and deposited into a jar.  I wanted Daniel to take it to school to his science teacher to find out what kind of snake it was.  All I remember is that the snake STUNK to high Heaven!  Although I don't remember what the science teacher decided, I have since learned that ratsnakes are very common in North Texas and they do release a musky "stink" when alarmed. 

My third encounter within this three month time frame occurred one evening after returning home with my son.  We walked into the house and on the tiled kitchen floor there was a snake curled up under one of my plant stands.  We just stopped and stared at it.  My mind raced and all I could think about was getting that snake out of the house, because I did not want to spend the money it would take to stay at a hotel if that snake slithered off and I could not find it.  I just remember yelling at my son to open the front door as I grabbed a dish towel from the oven handle, made my way over to the snake and grabbed it up.  I have to say that I did make note that it was not a rattlesnake, however, I did not know if it was poisonous or not.  I know I grabbed it as safely as I could, but I just did not want to give it time uncoil.  I raced like a madwoman with that snake to the open front door and threw everything --- snake AND dish towel out into my front yard.  I did not want to hold on to it for even one second longer than I had to.  We then slammed the front door and locked it (assuming that the snake did not have a key I guess).

Within a few days of this incident I brought my dogs outside to the front yard and stood on the porch while they ran around and checked things out.  As I turned to go back inside with them, the below site greeted me.  I had stood on the porch for about 15 minutes within about a foot of this, never noticing it.  Both dogs had run out the front door and back in without so much as a sniff in its direction.  It looked to be the same snake I had tossed out a few nights earlier.  I think it must have been the companion to the first snake I had "dispatched" and maybe the parent to the baby snake I had sent off to school without its permission.  Either way, this was my last encounter with a snake in or near my home, so maybe leaving it there that day was the proper way to "handle a snake". 

Happy Memorial Day

What better way to spend a long weekend than with a bunch of great people?  The photo above is of a long overdue gathering that took place a few years ago out at the lake.  These guys, including my husband in the red shirt, are all Lamar County boys and all went to high school together graduating in the early 1970's.  They had been inseparable up until several years before this photo was taken.  During that time they had each thought about all the fun they had together countless times until the sisters of two of them found each other on Facebook and passed along contact information, prompting the phone call that brought the boys back together again.  Oh Happy Day!!!

I adore my husband and that smile in the picture above is about the best and biggest I have ever seen and that was just the start.  Once these guys got together, it was like they'd never been apart.  Many more gatherings have taken place in the last several years and I have been very privileged to be a part of these reunions. 

This weekend as many of us will be celebrating Memorial Day and a three-day weekend I look forward to yet another of these fabulous gatherings.  There is nothing I can think of that I would rather do.  Thank you to these wonderful folks who have accepted me as one of their own, thank you to my wonderful husband for introducing me to such a fine group, and last, but certainly not least, thank you to all the men and women, both past and present, who sacrificed and continue to sacrifice so much so that I can travel freely and enjoy a time such as this. 

Tale of a T-Bone

Photo of a Police K-9 very similar to the one in this story (photo by wspca.com)

I often think of funny stories from my time as a police cadet, police officer and court worker and I just thought of one I think I'll write about here. 

Once, while on patrol late at night, we got a call of a burglar alarm going off at a local grocery store, which was closed for the night.  As several units, myself included, headed that way, we were reminded of our new K-9 unit that was also on patrol and available to us for calls such as this.  As a dog lover I was very excited about the possibility of seeing one of these beautiful German Shepherds in action.  I had only watched them train, but had yet to be on a call where I could observe their skills.  As I headed to the call, I could imagine the bad guys being dragged from the building, in total submission, by one of our four-legged officers. 

I pulled up to take my place outside the store and within a few minutes our K-9 showed up.  The exterior of the store was secured and the K-9 handler, a veteran officer, got out with the dog and approached the front of the store.  It was interesting---the handler gave clear and loud instructions in both English and Spanish through a bullhorn aimed within the front doors of the store, telling anyone who was in the store to come out with their hands up or a dog was going to be released into the building.  Interestingly, to the K-9 she spoke German, as he had been trained in Germany by German handlers.  While this all seemed very complicated, everything appeared to be progressing as planned.  After a few minutes of waiting, the dog was released into the store and disappeared toward the back, nose to the ground.  I could imagine that the dog was tracking all the scents of people who had passed through the aisles, trying to pick out the "newest" scent, possibly following it into some cubbyhole or hiding place that we, as officers, might easily overlook.  So imagine my surprise when we all saw the dog trotting happily to the front of the store, tail wagging, with a large package in his mouth.  Upon further inspection, the package turned out to be t-bone steaks!  Guess he found a nice dinner in the meat freezers in the back!

If I remember right, no burglar was found in the store that night, and I believe the alarm was triggered accidentally.  I am not sure what became of the steak, although I'm sure it did NOT go to the dog....to his credit though, he did go on to a very distinguished career with the police department---and I think this first stumble was not repeated afterwards.  I'll be the first to tell you that the sight and scent of a good meal is enough to throw me off my game though!

Morning Glories and Roses

My home for two years



I lived in a 915 square foot, 2 bedroom apartment for 2 years before I married my husband.  I really liked the apartment but was ready to get into a house.  We had a particular neighborhood in mind, a subdivision less than 10 minutes from work (and my apartment) that had nice homes in our price range, so every weekend we cruised through making note of the houses that were for sale (which were few and far between at that time).  Occasionally we would stop and look at what we could see through the windows or make an appointment to take a look inside if something caught our eye.

One Sunday we decided on the spur of the moment to take a ride through the neighborhood and saw a sign announcing an open house that was going on in "our" neighborhood.  We stopped in to take a look.  The house was very large, almost 2700 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, 2 living areas, a large kitchen and a formal dining room.  Then we stepped into the back yard and that pretty much made up our mind. 

There was flagstone covering about half of the yard with a koi pond and fountain which was very soothing.  There was a wrought iron fence and archway with a gate that divided the flagstone from the grass.  The patio was covered and enclosed on three sides providing privacy and shelter from the weather, but there was a space with a patio table, chairs and an umbrella out in the open, should the weather be pleasant enough to enjoy without as much cover. 

Koi pond to the left (a few years after we first moved in)

Over the years that we have lived there we have tried out several different looks, particularly for the archway and iron fencing areas. 

Morning Glories --- which were a "runaway" success!  So much so that they took over

everything so we pulled them and tried going with Knock-Out Roses instead (below)

Our Knock-Outs from a couple of years ago---they, like the Morning Glories, took over

everything (see below) and so we have cut them way back to allow some of the other plants

around them (and under them) to flourish a bit more. 

I loved the Morning Glories and sometimes miss them.  They will make a reappearance one day I'm sure.  I've got plenty of possibilities to harvest seeds due to my yardman's decision to "help out".  One day I decided to end the Morning Glory craze and I pulled down all the dried up vines which were covering the arch and also a trellis over my koi pond.  I had them all pulled down and in the middle of the patio, ready to stuff into those biodegradable bags that the garbage men pick up.  About that time the yard crew showed up and they said they would "take care of it".  I gladly turned it over to them---only to learn later that they pushed that huge pile of vines and pods and seeds out into the back yard and mowed them up!  At first it seemed like a good idea as the piles were gone and I didn't have to worry about setting bags out in the alley, but that fall I realized what happened to those piles of dried up Morning Glories.  They had been spread throughout the back yard and hedges and it appeared that they had all taken root!  The entire back yard was covered in Morning Glory vines.  Thankfully, they are easy to pull up as needed and what I don't get, the yard guys mow down, but to this day, nearly three years later I have an abundance of Morning Glories that take root in the back yard and up under the hedges and against the fences, so they could easily be transplanted if necessary. 

We spend nearly every weekend on that patio and additional time during the week when the weather is right.  We can sit out there through pretty much any storm and catch a great lightning show if we are so inclined.  We've even added a bar and ceiling fans to the patio so only in extreme temperatures do we have to forego sitting outside.  Sitting at the bar gives us a perfect view of the flowers and the koi pond and sometimes it's hard to go inside!

A Good Match

Chilly

Prissy

I love these pups.  Every night when I come home they run and yip and bark and jump and generally act like they haven't seen me in 10 years.  Sometimes they do that when they haven't seen me for 10 minutes, but you know they don't know the difference.  Like one version of the saying goes, "I hope I'm half as good a person as my dog thinks I am."  

I started out by taking Chilly with me when I moved into the apartments right across from work.  I could barely afford the deposit for one dog, so two dogs were out of the question.  After I got married and we moved into our house I talked my husband into letting me get a dog for our dog.  I thought Chilly needed someone to spend her time with during the day while we were gone.  A little buddy.  It took some convincing and also took some time to find the right dog.  I knew I wanted a doxie, miniature if I could get one.  I was lucky enough to get a long-hair dapple, which you don't see often.

Prissy's first day home being welcomed by Chilly

It didn't take long for them to bond and although every now and then Prissy snaps at Chilly (I've never seen it the other way around) they are pretty inseparable.  They are both "pound puppies" which is all I've ever had, but I could not have dreamed up a better pair.  It's been a good match!

Curses!

I honestly did not know what picture to attach to this post.  While the title "Curses" could mean a lot of things, in this post it refers to the time when someone put a curse on me.  While at first that may sound ominous, in reality it all happened so fast that I barely had time to really absorb it.  Not until the curse came true and actually happened to me, did I take a moment to reflect on it .

I must have been about 19 because I was still training with my Field Training Officer who I will call "CB".  CB and I have remained close these last 30 years and communicate weekly.  Back when I was 19, I thought just as highly of him and was thrilled to have him as one of my mentors.  At this particular time we were on midnights, working patrol, District 3, downtown and west of downtown.  It was about midnight or thereabouts and we received a call of a disturbance at some apartments not far from the station.  Not the nicest of complexes, but a disturbance was not all that common at that location.  When we arrived we made contact with the caller and were told that their next-door neighbor was drunk and had been yelling and screaming at no one in particular just a short time before.  We knocked on the door to the neighbor's apartment and who should come to the door but an older gentleman in a pair of shorts and nothing else.  We recognized him as a past and frequent visitor of the City Jail who I will call "JJ".  JJ & CB went way back and they began talking about what was going on.  JJ was very obviously intoxicated as he answered our questions, and he was very agitated about having to do so.  He began complaining about being picked on and about how no one would leave him alone.  He was raving and ranting and acting pretty incoherently but up until this point he was still inside his apartment and he did not appear to be a danger to himself or anyone else.  He knew better than to come outside the apartment where he would be "in public" and could possibly be arrested for public intoxication.  After a few minutes he calmed down and assured us he was going to go to bed for the night and sleep it off.  This was agreeable to all parties, so we left in peace and cleared the call.

About 30 minutes later we received a 2nd disturbance call at the same location.  We arrived to find that JJ was now inside his next door neighbor's apartment and before he saw us, we witnessed him being very loud and aggressive, gesturing wildly and stumbling about the apartment.  When he saw us, he made a beeline for his apartment next door, but we latched on to him before he got there.  Although we tried to calm him down he was furious that we had "snuck up" on him and really became very belligerent.  He then became very threatening and finally we just had to make the decision to take him in.  As soon as he realized what we were doing, he stiffened up and would not bend his arms or legs.  CB and I had to carry him to the car after handcuffing him.  CB was very worried that we might accidentally hurt him because he said that JJ was probably close to 70 years old.  I could not believe this and looked at him again.  Sure enough, I saw the signs of age that I had not seen before and realized that we needed to be very careful.  As JJ saw me looking intently at him, he said, very calmly to me, "What you looking at girl---you ain't never seen a black man before?"  I assured him that I had and that I just wanted him to go along peacefully because we could not leave him there in his condition.  All of a sudden he calmed down and got very still and quiet.  He raised his hands to point toward me (we had handcuffed him in the front because it did not seem to be as strenuous on him) and I stepped back.  He looked very intently at me and said, "Just for this, I am going to put a curse on you."  I gasped and held my breath....I just did not know what to expect.  While many people might have just shoved him into the car, both CB and I were really kind of interested in what he had to say.  He had calmed down and was not fighting us, so I must of thought, "What the heck?"  As he stood there against the patrol car pointing both hands at me he lowered his voice and repeated directly to me, "I'm putting a curse on you girl" and I just stood there slack-jawed as I watched his whole face and demeanor change.  He continued, "From this day forward, all your babies ---- will be born naked."  WHAAAAATTT???  How dare he curse me and my babies!!!!  Then he and CB burst out laughing as I finally comprehended what he had actually said to me (I think CB had heard this line before).  As soon as he'd finished speaking, he climbed into the back of the patrol car and settled in for the short ride to jail.  Never gave us another problem.

From time to time over the years, I'd run across JJ, but never did I ever have another bit of trouble from him.  Several years later, when I had my first and only child, JJ's curse came to be.  Daniel Brett was born naked as a jaybird.  I'm sure glad that was the only thing JJ cursed me with---it sure could have been worse!