A snake in the grass!

My wonderful husband was helping me cut the daffodil leaves this weekend.  They are turning brown so now is the time to get rid of them and plant something that will give me summer bloom.  I have been starting zinnias, cleome and several other annuals that need to get in the ground NOW!

Normally, I pay my daughter to cut the spent leaves but this year, well, she has been one busy girl and didn't have time.  I'll come up with some other garden task so she now that school is over so she can make some summer spending money. 

I was using small hand clippers to cut my hundreds of bulb leaves and my wonderful husband volunteered to wield the big shears for me.  I just had to gather the clumps of leaves up and 'whack' he cut them all off in one swipe.   Now, my hubby and I have been married a good long time.  Long enough that we know each other pretty well.  Long enough to finish each other's sentences.  Long enough, that when we go to a restaurant, he'll often ask me what he'd like on the menu!  Long enough for him to know my feelings concerning SNAKES!  I come from a long line of snake haters.  My grandma Shaw used to walk us kids in the woods with a hoe in one hand.  When people asked what the hoe was for, she'd very calmly reply 'the hoe is for YOU to kill the snake.' What she didn't say was that she'd already be home before the hoe ever hit the ground!  I feel the same way.

As a science teacher, I know that snakes do good for the environment.  I know that they keep the small mammal population in check, I know that they eat insects and many other things.  My scientific mind knows all that.  However, my inner EVE feels that all the worlds problems can be blamed on that snake!  I have reconciled both of those people living inside me ( no, I'm not Sybil, I don't specifically have this conversation out loud!) with the fact that snakes can live in peace and harmony with me as long as they stay off my property!  I have even removed non-poisonous snakes from my property into the woods behind my house. 

I think the big problem I have with snakes is that they tend to sneak up on me.  I'll be happily focused on my work and all the sudden, here's this snake looking at me, usually not alarmed at all.  I have a green snake in my iris bed that gets his thrills that way.  I'll be working and pulling weeds and all the sudden he's right in my face spread over two or three plants scaring the daylights out of me!

I have a special 'save me Jesus' snake dance that I tend to do when I've spotted a snake.  It's a mix of a jump that Michael Jordan would be proud of and a very loud prayer.  I had a car stop in the road once to make sure that I was alright after witnessing my dance over a copperhead that I spotted.  The poor man was trying not to laugh as he told me he was sure I saw a snake because he knew a short little thing like me wouldn't normally jump five feet straight up and over unless it was a snake.  What can I say, I have fast reflexes!

Well, to make a long story short, my husband let me put my hands all around a little snake while I was collecting daffodil leaves.  He says he didn't want to alarm me and that he planned to get it relocated once I had moved on.  He says he didn't want me hurting myself getting out of the way. I think he was wanting to see the 'save me Jesus' dance because he hadn't had much entertainment lately.  That or he's just evil.  All I know is that now I've pulled a rib muscle and can't move at all.  I think I'd better start carrying a hoe like Grandma Shaw did, I'm getting too old for the dance!