Oh my!

I went out to water the garden after supper tonight and this is what I found!! After seeing it, saying, "OH!! Aaah!" because I'm not used to finding snakes in the garden, and getting the rest of my family to come look at it, we figured out that it was a rat snake. So, harmless and in fact it eats bugs and stuff...and it also eats lizards...which are not bad as they eat bugs themselves, but anyway. Gracie's got competition for her lizard snacks is all...

Okay, not poisonous! Phew. I'm not terribly fond of snakes (or spiders) so I generally assume the worst and stay away from or kill the dangerous ones. Well, I haven't killed a snake (Dad has), but as far as large spiders go...I shoot first and ask questions later, so to speak! :p If I find a large spider I do not catch it to study it or look it up, or keep as a prize specimen...I squash it before it gets me.

On a side note, our church seems to be divided between people who collect spiders and those who immediately squash in self-defence. This came up a few months ago because our music leader found a black widow spider and instead of killing went and took a picture of it...and then did not kill it after its photoshoot either. About half of the other men in the church told him he should have put it in a jar and given it to one of them, the other half (which included the pastor and my dad) looked at them like they were insane and said it should have been squashed.

Anyway, back to the snake...since I found out it was harmless and since it was only a very small snake (about as wide as my thumb) I don't mind it being out there. But only a small snake... if we were out in the country or something like that and the snakes were out in a field, big snakes would be one thing, but not in a suburban neighborhood. Like the big snake that Dad saw out on the road and ran over?...I really don't want snakes that big anywhere that close to the house. Aaannnd...if I'm lucky, Colin won't end up collecting spiders and snakes, etc. Lizards are good, he can have lizards if he ends up wanting reptiles! :0

I worked a few hours this afternoon and then I ran a few errands and went to pick Dad up from work. I was trying to return those black flats I got at Michaels last Wednesday because they don't really fit very well, but since I'd taken the tag off, they couldn't take them back because they don't have any way to put the tag back on. *sigh* So now I have a pair of shoes that really don't work for me...and none of my friends have size nine feet!

I got a nifty green water bottle while I was there though...I was looking for something like it, with a "sport top" (the little spout that goes up and down, you know? like a classic water bottle?) and it has a round lid that snaps over that, so it won't spill, but you don't have to unscrew the entire top to get a drink.

I'm working all day tomorrow, so I've got to get up early tomorrow! I've got to eat breakfast before I leave....I'm used to eating when I get back from dropping Dad off.

BTW...I've decided I only like classical music in small doses. I like classical music, but after a while it all sounds very similar and it starts getting to you...or me anyway. When I was working this afternoon (or helping, since the mom was there) she had the classical music station on and I was about to go crazy listening to it! She says the baby likes classical music and her husband says the baby likes classic country music...um...can we find something in between those two types of music maybe??