Snakes and Snails

It's been hotter than blazes around here. This week it got up to 100 degrees. It's so hot that the grass has stopped growing and started turning brown in spots. It's so hot that I've been putting out lots of water for the dogs and cats and filling the birdbath every day. I even put a dish of water out for the little critters that creep around on the ground. I got that idea from Scout. He has a little dish sitting on the ground with water for the frog that lives under his porch.


So many critters are suffering from the heat. It only stands to reason that they will turn up wherever they can find water. Scout and Kim have a swimming pool in the backyard. This king snake probably smelled the water or was searching for food in the surrounding undergrowth.

My boy Scout likes to be a snake wrangler. Okefenokee Joe (http://www.okefenokeejoe.com/) came to Dug Gap School and gave a demonstration about snakes when he was in kindergarten. Scout has been charmed ever since.


Scout probably got his love of snakes from my grandfather. He was notorious for not killing snakes. Grampa thought everything was good and he didn't eliminate snakes in his philosophy. Grampa had a pet little snake that lived in a rock wall in his yard. Momma saw it one time and tried to kill it but Grampa stepped in and told her not to hurt his little snake. He said he had burned some brush near the wall and he thought he had blinded the snake. He felt sorry for it and would feed it grubs and insects when he saw it. He said it was his friend.

My grandparents moved from town to Crow Valley later. They lived there several years before a dam was built near them. Grampa's property was below the spillway. Grampa and Gramma loved fishing at the bottom of the dam. Grampa also liked fishing in the lake. 


Grampa said he went to the top of the dam to go fishing one day and saw a stringer at the edge of the water. Someone had left their stringer of fish in the water. A snake had tried to swallow a fish on the line and the fish was stuck in it's throat. Grampa picked up the snake and the fish and tried to work the fish out of the snakes mouth. He said he worked slow so as not to hurt the snake until he was able to get the fish dislodged from the snakes mouth. 


He put the snake back in the water until it got it's strength back. It finally swam away from the bank, away from him. He said the funniest thing happened. The snake turned around and swam nearly up to him and swam in place with it's head sticking out of the water. It just looked at him. It began to swim away again and got a little farther but stopped and turned around and swam back to the bank where Grampa was standing. It swam in place with it's head raised above the water looking him in the eye again. It swam away again but stopped, again and swam back to him one more time to look at him. It finally turned around and swam away.


Grampa said he thought the little snake came back to thank him for saving his life. He was so proud of saving the snake's life. 


Momma laughed and said she bet the snake wasn't thanking him for saving his life. She bet the snake was sizing him up and wondering if he could swallow Grampa.


We all had a good laugh over that but I think Grampa was right. The snake understood that Grampa saved his life and wanted to thank him. Animals may not think like we do but they do understand more than we give them credit for.


God put everything here for a purpose and that day Grampa's purpose was to save that snake's life. That's kind of cool if you think about it. 

AS ALWAYS

PIO