Snakes and Such -- jcarolek

Thank goodness we kill those black snakes that meander through the “yard” every now and then!

I, for one, am not a fan of killing snakes or anything really. But, much as I try to intervene every time one of these “horrible creatures” is discovered in “our territory,” my husband often manages to “take care of the problem” before I get there.

Every time I explain that mother nature gives us these creatures to help us keep other vermin in check. But, I get the regular response about, “snakes are bad,” “they could be poisonous,” yada, yada, yada.

Well, a couple of years ago having been out of town on travel for nearly two weeks, we arrived home and unpacked. The next morning, hubby drove his truck somewhere and when he returned he said the heater/fan was making an awful racket. “Uh-huh,” I replied, only half listening to his tale of woe. That was Saturday.

Sunday I drove my car, the one that had been beside his truck in the garage those two weeks, to church…..it was chilly, so I turned on the heat/fan….hmmmm…mine was making a terrible racket. (Where had I heard this before?)

Well, coincidental as it might have seemed, we decided we would each take our vehicle to the dealership to have them “examined.” I took my Hyundai into the Hyundai dealership and he took his Toyota into the Toyota dealership. We each told the doctor of mechanics (MD) our patient’s symptoms.

I was given a ride to work (they would call when the doctor had made his diagnosis) and hubby sat and waited on his.

I was the first to receive the call.

“do you have squirrels where you live?” asked the MD.

Well, I live in the woods, so, YES!

“well, you have a bunch of nuts in the fan. We took them out and repaired it. It was covered under warranty.”

What? Squirrels putting nuts in my fan is covered under warranty?

Meanwhile, over at all things Toyota, John was getting a similar diagnosis…well, just a little different. Apparently there was no squirrel that was the culprit. No, in fact one or two of the culprits were found in the fan…field mice…(ohhh aren’t they cute???)

Now Toyota did not consider this nasty job to be covered under warranty and the bill was in excess of $200.

So, you see, as I explained for the umptiumpth time to hubby, we NEED those black snakes around. They could have saved us over $200!
Well, still not a ‘believer” he continued his pattern of black snake annihilation and all went well, for another few months. Then, on the first day of the new “cutting” season, I pulled out the riding mower, hopped aboard, fired her up and off I went…for about 10 feet before the belt broke…..the man at the mower repair place, the doctor of mowers (MD) called to let us know that it appeared “field mice” had chewed through the belt….

Two months later, still not willing to coexist with black snakes, we had a recurrence of the first episode. The difference this time was that I was not about to spend over $200 to have both vehicles cleansed of traces of field mice. I might not be a doctor of mechanics, but I HAVE stayed in a Holiday Inn Express, and I decided I could tackle the job. I was right. I saved us lots of money!

So, I laid down the law….no more killing the black snakes. If you see one, or if the dog is going ballistic over one, let me go and carry it off to a place far enough away that you and she will not be disturbed by it! But please, let nature take care of us!

It has been more than a year…no field mice have bothered our cars or mower….I have taken a dozen or so black snakes to “the other side of the yard” when their presence was disturbing to hubby or dog.

And I have been a MUCH happier camper!