[Magdalen] Taking care of our neighbors in the yard

[Susan Hagen]

Oh Jay, that would have seriously unnerved me!


On Mon, May 1, 2017 at 10:02 AM, Jay Weigel <jay.weigel at gmail.com> wrote:
> We do, or did, share the basement with a black snake. I didn't mind it
> until the day I nearly shut its head in the freezer! It had been sleeping
> coiled up on top of the freezer under the old microwave stored there, and I
> guess got curious when I opened the door. I didn't even notice it because I
> was looking for something, but when I went to close the door I almost
> decapitated the poor thing! That was when we put snake repellent on top of
> the freezer. Otherwise we just left it alone.
>
> On Sun, Apr 30, 2017 at 8:38 PM, Susan Hagen <susanvhagen at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Our New Hampshire property had dry stone walls, remnants of the farm
>> it had been.  The walls were the favorite habitat of little striped
>> garter snakes.  My cats loved those snakes, thinking them the best
>> kind of cat toy, self propelled strings.  I never saw them kill one,
>> they would just play with them for a bit.  The snakes and I had an
>> understanding that whoever saw the other first would quietly retreat
>> from the encounter.
>>
>> When my ex-husband and I first moved to the Valley we shared a big old
>> house with a friend.  They later told me that we all shared it with a
>> large black snake.  They had the occasional scramble to usher him out
>> without me seeing his since they knew I would have a very hard time
>> staying there with his company.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Apr 29, 2017 at 5:39 PM, Jay Weigel <jay.weigel at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > I'm like Juli in having little patience with people who are automatically
>> > horrified by snakes without considering what kind they are, and whose
>> > immediate reaction is to kill them. While I'm not crazy about rattlers,
>> > copperheads, and pythons, I still admire their unique beauty. I find the
>> > black snakes on our property quite elegant in a quiet way, plus I
>> > appreciate their rodent and insect eating proclivities. I've had numerous
>> > encounters with them and always treat them with respect. I love the
>> little
>> > garter snakes in the garden, too...they're cute.
>> >
>> > Two snake stories. One concerns my friend Kirk, who had a farm in the
>> > mountains of east Tennessee. His original house had a separate cook house
>> > out back which was no longer in use for cooking and he used to store
>> > assorted equipment such as his riding mower and his 4-wheel ATV. It was
>> > also home to a 7-foot king snake. He told every new visitor about the
>> snake
>> > and said that it was to be treated with respect and greeted when one
>> > entered the building, and that if you didn't like snakes or were afraid
>> of
>> > them, stay out of the building. I always did as instructed and was lucky
>> > enough to to see it twice, once coiled around a rafter and once gliding
>> > along the edge of the wall. Magnificent creature. Second story--when my
>> > Betsy was 9, she and a bunch of her soccer team were kicking around the
>> > field before practice and one of the boys found a small, recently
>> deceased
>> > garter snake. She was the only girl on the team who would pick it up,
>> which
>> > engendered much admiration from the boys. She says she wouldn't do it
>> now,
>> > though. ;->
>> >
>> >
>> > On Sat, Apr 29, 2017 at 10:44 AM James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
>> > oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >> I must content myself with the occasional turtle...
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Good for you ! ! !
>> >>
>> >> James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
>> >> *“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not
>> preserved,
>> >> except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy
>> >>
>> >> On Fri, Apr 28, 2017 at 1:15 PM, Jay Weigel <jay.weigel at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > I went out on the lower porch about half an hour ago to take in the
>> sun
>> >> and
>> >> > the breeze, and while I was there I noticed a black snake that seemed
>> to
>> >> be
>> >> > caught in netting which S/O had  stapled around the corner post years
>> ago
>> >> > to assist the autumn clematis in its journey upward. Poor snake
>> seemed to
>> >> > be pretty thoroughly entangled, and knowing that these guys are not
>> >> > venomous, I went and got S/O to have him look and see if there was
>> >> anything
>> >> > we could do. His first judgment was that the snake had expired, but
>> when
>> >> I
>> >> > told him I'd seen it move, he got gloves, scissors, and a sawed-off
>> broom
>> >> > handle and proceeded to spend the next 15 minutes carefully snipping
>> >> > netting and vine away from our scaly friend, which had got itself MOST
>> >> > thoroughly entangled. I assisted by holding vines this way and that,
>> and
>> >> > the snake seemed to understand what we were doing and actually
>> positioned
>> >> > itself as much as it was able to so that S/O could reach netting that
>> was
>> >> > in between coils of its body. At last we managed to get it free, even
>> >> > though we couldn't get all of the netting completely off it, and it
>> >> crawled
>> >> > off down the porch. I looked for it later and it was gone. S/O thinks
>> it
>> >> > may have gone down to the woodpile to rest and try to scratch the
>> >> remaining
>> >> > netting off. I'm just happy we found it and were able to free it. I am
>> >> fond
>> >> > of black snakes and I would hate for it to have died tangled in that
>> >> > netting.
>> >> >
>> >>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among
>> you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the
>> land of Egypt.
>> Leviticus 19:34
>>



-- 
The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among
you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the
land of Egypt.
Leviticus 19:34