Annie Get Yer Gun

The boys and I walked out to the garage the other day to find this little friend curled up behind my back tire. Needless to say, I wasn't real excited about the house guest. Roanin, on the other hand, was thrilled. Roanin wanted to go over to see what it was all about, while Tuesday (the cat) was attempting to keep the snake in check. The snake was checking the cat back - striking him every time he came near.

Due to my lack of snake knowledge, I wasn't sure if this bad boy was poisonous or not, and I didn't really feel like hauling both kids in to do the research while it set up shop in the garage. I decided to take action. And us country girls don't take our action lightly. Action took the form of loading the 20 gauge shotgun (with the help of Shawn's verbal instructions over the phone...yep, that wasn't easy) and locking the kids in the house while I went out to do my best Annie Oakley impression. I left Roanin in charge (that's right...I had a 3 year old babysitting a 11 month old).

I will let you be the judge of who won the fight. I was so nervous that I might miss, that I got super close - I ended up blowing a huge hole in the ground...and the snake.

After the shot, I went back to the door to check on the kids, only to hear Roanin shouting "Mommy...can I come out?!?!? Can I come out?!?!? Did ya get em!?!?!" When he ran out and saw the snake he told me he was "...so proud of you, Mommy. But I think you will need a big boy's help next time. I think Rexy will be fine on his own."

Gotta love life in the country.