Unwelcome visitor

When I got home from the babysitting gig last night, I thought we were in for the night. I hadn't eaten yet, so I made a sandwich and then decided a root beer sounded like just the thing. It was dark by then, so I switched on the garage light and stepped out to check the fridge out there. I stepped on something soft and got off of it quickly, thinking it must have been a frog or toad. You can imagine my surprise when I looked down and saw a snake, coiled between me and the door. As I looked, it slithered into the house and took a left toward the pantry. I didn't want it going in there, or anywhere for that matter, so I hurried around to face it. It stopped and opened it mouth and showed me it's tonsils. It was probably about an inch around and maybe 15 or so inches long.

I yelled for Wayne, who was in bed watching television. He didn't hear me, of course, so I yelled a couple more times, getting louder each time. Finally, he heard and yelled back, "What?" I told him, "Come in here." To his credit, he wasted no time and seconds later he asked where I was and I told him I was in the kitchen. He came up behind me and saw that I was having a stand-off with the snake which turned as if to go back out the door (which was closed by now...don't want bugs and mosquitos in the house, it's bad enough there's a snake here.) I could have opened the door, but I really didn't want it in the garage either, so I grabbed one of Wayne's shoes that was nearby and trapped the snake under it. Wayne came and took my place while I looked for something to use to get the snake out of the house and into the killing field. I got the tongs and Wayne was able to grab the snake with them.

We went through the garage and out to the driveway. I grabbed a shovel and Wayne proceeded to do away with it. We both noticed that it was pretty smelly, but Wayne didn't think it was a moccasin. It didn't occur to me until later that I should have pulled my phone out of my pocket and took it's picture while we were having the stand-off.