Michigan Accent » outdoors

slithering surprise: parts 2 and 3

bcp — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:33:03 +0000

It wasn’t long ago that I first wrote about our first encounter with snakes around the house. Since then, we’ve been frequented by two more. Snake #2 really had the element of surprise, being curled up on the doormat in our garage. Each of the subsequent visitors went the way of the first. (And while time to completion was much quicker, I was just as terrified and disgusted as the first time around.)

I am proud to announce we have a winner. Brent, from my first post, correctly identified the intruders as the Northern Brown Snake. With the increased frequency of these visits, our neighbors also started to think we should investigate them more thoroughly. (Most neighbors were positive they were baby copperheads. Our immediate neighbors now have replaced all the grass in their yard with moth balls. Or at least it smells that way.) The Animal Control took the most recent snake I killed and confirmed Brent’s suspicions. Apparently the trick to properly identifying copperheads is not so much the pattern on their backs, but the shape and color of the eyes (which is much easier to see once they’re dead, I might add).

Apparently the Northern Brown Snakes in Virginia only have litters of 3 to 26. Why do I get the feeling we haven’t seen the last of this litter?

mowing season: week one

bcp — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:10:16 +0000

Today begins the longest season of the year here in VA: mowing season. Probably only 34 more weeks to go.

I was pleased with my trusty Toro, as it started up on the first pull. At the same time, disappointed to remember the cable that controls the self-propelled functionality snapped the last time I used it last year. I do recall thinking at the time that I’d just take care of it come spring …

Micah was also pleased that mowing season has begun. He’s been “mowing” and “trimming” our family room, dining room, and basement floors all winter long. He put on his mowing hat, sun glasses, and helped with the entire lawn.

If I can make it through another season without encountering any snakes, I’ll be pleased.

slithering surprise

bcp — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:12:16 +0000

I need help identifying some wildlife here in VA. I was letting Moby out the other night when I almost stepped on a snake by the doormat. The sliding door where we let the dog out is in our basement, and is at the bottom of a set of cement stairs coming down from the back yard. In other words, the snake was surrounded by cement on three sides and the door to our house on the fourth. There was no good option for encouraging it up the stairs. By my measurements, it was a good 12-13″ in diameter. Did I say diameter? I meant length.

I have a bad case of Ophidiophobia, to be sure. For the next hour, I procrastinated by making a couple desparation phone calls for assistance, and assessing the best method for removing the threat. At Rachel’s suggestion, I put on some snow boots (to protect me feet and ankles, of course) and headed out with a garden hoe.

It was not at all an enjoyable experience, and it’s taken me a good week to want to go back and look at the pictures. Now I really want to know what type of snake it was. Can anyone help me out?