The Snake

This is my sweet mother. She has one very dark sense of humor. She can occasionally be as tough as nails. I went over to visit with her tonight and she reminded me of a story I think some of you might enjoy. A little back ground information is needed first. My mother is a small woman. In her youth, she was 5 feet 3 inches and proud she was that tall. She was a bit of a tomboy as a child and has loved the outdoors all of her life. Whenever there is a job to be done, she will volunteer and work until said job is complete.

Twelve years ago, my petite, tomboyish mother had to clean out my grandfather's house in the country so it could be sold. My grandfather lived out in the country in Oklahoma. To say my grandfather's house was in a state of disrepair would be a major understatement. He accumulated more and more junk in his last five years in the house and really wasn't able to clean anything or do any repairs on the house. It was sad, but he moved to a retirement home and ended up being much happier.

So my mother took on the onerous task of cleaning out his house mostly by herself. My brothers and I would help her when we could. I don't remember why no one went up with Mom on his particular day, but for some reason, she found herself cleaning out the garage by herself.

Is your spine tingling yet? Do you know what's going to happen? It should be obvious something bad is about to happen. This is a story about my mother, after all.


Rattle.....



Rattle.....


She was moving a pile of firewood that had been stored in the garage.


Hisssss.....



Chop, freaking chop!

My petite little mom was cleaning out the garage with an ax in one hand just in case she found a snake laying in wait.


So, she chopped off it's head! That's what you're supposed to do when a huge, poisonous snake is staring at you. I think she stepped on it's head or upper neck so it couldn't try to bite her while she was taking care of her newfound problem. She's kind of smart like that.

I'll kill a spider any day, but I draw the line at reptiles that could kill me. I will run away from a snake as fast as I can. Then I'll call my mom to take care of it.