by Jan Feilden
What an interesting day I had on Friday. The Beagles began barking like their life depended on it! I looked out the window to see what was going on and saw nothing except them standing and barking.
Upon opening the backdoor, I got the surprise of the day…a large snake. He was caught in the enclosed area behind the air conditioner. We enclosed it with panels so the Beagles couldn’t get back there and tear anything up.
As a consequence leaves fall in that area and can’t get out. We have to take the panels down, rake the leaves out, put the panels back up, etc.
We missed doing that this last Fall. THAT will never happen again. I think that was the reason they were just standing and barking instead of darting in and out.
The snake started backing out of the enclosure. I had a hand edger and I used it on the tail of the snake. It cut into the snake and he raised his head, puffed out his mouth and tried to strike me. I could not strike him again with my edger because it would not fit through the opening in the panels.
I ran in the house and got the screw-in handle of an old mop. I figured the screw in the bottom of the handle could finish him off. I poked him with it several times and finally worked it in just a little. I twisted and turned that handle several times until I saw blood coming out of that spot.
Even with the blood he was losing from the tail, I knew it would take a long time for him to bleed to death. But finally the struggle was over and he died.
I put all of my “weapons” away. That’s when I noticed his mouth was opened wide and there was a dead frog in it. The frog’s legs and a little part of his body was showing.
My thought? Aliens had come to the Red Oak Ranch!!
