Granny Clampett

Well, it seems like we're pretty violent around our 4 acre woods these days. My last post was about Jed takin' care of poor ol' Templeton. Well blogger friends, I'm writing this to let you know that I had to fill in for Jed while he was out to work this morning.

We had a pretty calm morning, as usual. When all three kids finally awoke, we loaded up and went out to husband's work to ride our bikes. We rode all of about 1/4 of a mile today because of the lovely wind.

When we came back from our morning ride, we had breakfast. Following breakfast, the older two children wanted to go out and play. D wanted to practice his golf and E just wanted to sit out in a lawn chair (a new one that our cousin Josh sent our way...thanks Josh!) and watch D. They kept playing for about 45 minutes or so. Baby E was a little fussy so I put her down for a short morning nap.

The older two kids kept playing outside. They had now gotten out their Power Wheels Jeeps and were riding within their designated boundaries. Then they started picking up sticks along the driveway.

While they were playing outside I had started peeling some vegetables for our lunch in the kitchen. DON'T FREAK OUT. I didn't leave the kids unattended. From my kitchen window I'm able to see them playing at all times!!

Baby E is still napping. All is quiet in our house. (A very unusal event!)

All of a sudden I hear our dogs. They are all barking/yelping. This usually means that there's either a stranded vehicle/owner on the nearby highway, or a hitch-hiker on the nearby highway, an unfamiliar vehicle entering our driveway, or a SNAKE.

I rushed to the back door to see what was happening outdoors. Sure enough....a lovely SNAKE had made its way onto our sidewalk and was approaching the back porch.

PROBLEM: I'm on this side of the snake and older two kids are on the OTHER side of the SNAKE.

SOLUTION: Luckily the kids were about 3 feet into the yard playing on a slide. I was able to get their attention and sent them indoors through the FRONT door. (It really didn't happen that calmly.) When I hollered for them to come inside...they headed for the BACK door until I yelled STOP! By the time I got the words STOP out of my mouth E saw the SNAKE. She evidentally processed FRONT door and she and D headed around to the front door. I ran through the house and met them at the front door and unlocked it. Em was crying/screaming by this point! (I wonder where she gets that!) D was just his usual self!

Okay, so we're all inside and safe. We phone hubby and exlain the situation that's happening. He says to shoot it! WHAT??? ME?? It would be much easier if you would rush home and tend to this!

OKAY...thanks to VBS I remembered that Bible Point about Jesus Gives Us the Power to Be Brave.

So, hubby talked me through how to shoot his 22. I evidentally had great aim because I 'nailed' him on the first shot! Wahoo! Granny shot a snake!


Here is a picture of my trophy snake. Sorry that it's upside down, but that's how it landed after the dog carried it away from the crime scence. I wasn't about to get close enough to it to flip it over.



It wasn't rattling, so I don't think it's a rattle snake. However, in my opinion, snakes are SNAKES regardless of the specific type.



Gotto go...need to put finishing touches on that lunch and wake up Baby E. I can't believe she slept through all this excitement!