Surprise in the Basement

I went downstairs to the basement this morning to get some cardboard for an etsy sale and to turn on lights for my friend who was coming over to look at some merchandise in the basement. I was about to head over to one section to turn on a light when I saw something long on the floor. The first thought I had was to go over and kick it out of the way, thinking it was a piece of paper or straw from a broom or something.

Well, it was neither. It was a snake. And it was looking at me with its beady little eyes and raising its head like it was hunting for prey. YUK! I immediately called Tim from my cell phone and informed him that we had a slight problem in the basement and he'd better get down here immediately and remove it. Unfortunately, I had to stick around to keep an eye on the snake in case it decided to slither away and hide. I did run upstairs quickly and get the camera so my unexpected discovery could at least be documented.

I made sure that Tim realized he had one chance to get this thing and he'd better not miss! He put on heavy duty gloves, got a trash bag and grabbed it. He gave me all the grisly details about it slithering around in the bag on the way upstairs and outside, yuck!

He released it out by the ex-ice cream parlor and we can now only hope that it doesn't come back in and that it didn't have friends or siblings down there.

I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with my reaction to this one. The mouse in the laundry room incident last year had me screaming bloody murder and seeking fast refuge on top of the countertop. I almost had to be commited. The "waterbug" that jumped out when I opened the dishwasher had me so traumatized that I haven't opened the dishwasher but once in the last month and that was with the aid of a big towel! (Thank God for quarterly pest control...) I haven't had to see the birds Tim keeps finding in the attic so that's been okay. I guess since this guy didn't move I didn't feel as threatened.

I've apparently come a long way since I discovered a garter snake in my outdoor tent I got as a present when I was almost 6. I called my dad at work, begged him to come home and get it and I never stepped foot back in that tent again.

But please, can the wildlife and insect population please stay out of my house? If not, I'm moving to a penthouse suite on the 100th floor of some high rise building!