Our Backyard Visitor

Will and the rest of my five kids (click here if you're confused!) were playing in the back yard this evening.  Will yelled for Jerry and told him there was a snake in the woods.  Jerry went out to check and took a pitch fork with him.  When he didn't return promptly I decided I should take the shovel and go check on things since I'm the snake-killer in our house (unless the job requires more than a shovel).  After I saw the snake, I traded my shovel for the recycling bin.  He was a black snake that was at least four feet long.  I just don't have the guts to kill a snake that big with a shovel, but even if I did I can't kill a black snake that big.

Thankfully we're experienced in relocating huge black snakes (we moved one almost twice as big from our back patio in Covington).  Jerry used the pitch fork to move him into the recycling bin and I quickly put the lid on.  After all the kids got a peek at him we took him up Petersburg Pike to release him.  The drive was the most exciting part.  We secured the lid of the container with bungee cords and loaded him in the back of the Explorer.  Thankfully I was keeping an eye on the lid as we were driving because I saw his tongue slip out through a crack in the lid.  I climbed in the back at that point to make sure he didn't escape (nightmarish thought!!).  As I got back there and reached over the seat to hold the lid down he pushed the lid up and had his head sticking out of the container!!!!  I screamed, and thank God that startled him back in the box.  Needless to say we stopped and dumped him out immediately!  That was too much adventure for me!

You cant' see him well, but the snake extends the whole length of this picture and beyond!