I woke up this morning and do what I always do – I went to our back yard to let my dogs out. I always sit outside with them in the morning for a few minutes, and today when I let them out, I noticed immediately that they were taking interest in something. Holy crap! It was a snake! They were sniffing it, and it was very clearly alive. Fortunately, it wasn’t rattling, but it didn’t have the stripes on it that I recognize in a King snake either.
I didn’t know what kind of snake it was, and I needed my dogs to get away from it. There definitely wasn’t an opportunity to grab the camera, so I don’t even have a picture to share with all of you.
I started shouting my dogs’ names to call them inside. When that didn’t work, I began clapping my hands loudly. There was no way I was putting myself between the dogs and the snake, and by some miracle, the snake must have gotten scared from all the noise and attention. He slithered his way up our retaining wall and crawled over it into the desert. Phew, he was gone, but his presence was known. My Beagle sniffed the ground where he had been over and over again. He glared at me as if he was trying to say, “Darn! That was my breakfast, and you let him get away!”
What a way to wake up this morning! It is not an uncommon Tucson desert dweller’s story, but it’s one that is etched in my mind permanently. Blech – snakes are one part of the desert I could do without.
I can’t think about much else this morning, so my song of the day has to be a snake song. Duran Duran can make anything better, so here is their “Union of the Snake.” I’m staying indoors today!
