I sat down at my desk last night to write this, and the Ring camera at the farm sent a motion sensor notification. Even though I’m out there quite a bit, I like to keep an eye on the place since it was broken into last winter. I turned on the live camera feed and watched. I could see something dart in front of the camera, but it was too fast to identify. I kept watching and saw nothing, so I turned on the speaker and microphone to see if I could catch anything… or anyone. I called out a couple of times and didn’t get a response. Shortly afterwards, I got quite the surprise!
A snake stuck its head into the frame just long enough to identify it as such. Then it moved over the camera itself, and I heard the long rustle of scales brushing across the microphone. I was so shocked, I didn’t even think of getting out my iPad to record the live feed since I don’t have access to that part of the system. The snake was actually clinging to and traveling across the vertical wooden wall of the front of the house! Eeeks!
The rain was pouring down, beating a brisk staccato on the old tin roof. The snake rested on the old glass insulators where the electric line went up to the cellar house. It stretched itself out as if to see if the rain was cold, though I’m sure it was just trying to find something good to eat. Some bats come out at dusk there, so it could have been after one.
I don’t think it’s the big black snake I saw out there in the past. This one looked a lighter color, but I can’t get a close enough look, other than its head didn’t look like a viper. Grandma’s mantra about snakes was, “The only good snake is a dead snake.” I differ with her on that. Unless it’s poisonous and living a little too close to the kids or the hen house, it’s doing its job by keeping down the rodent population. Mr. Virgo was deathly afraid of snakes. After time in the jungles of Vietnam and the verdant flora of Florida, he was “once bit, twice shy.” Mr. FixIt isn’t crazy about snakes either, so I’ve always been the snake wrangler in the family. To be totally transparent… I’ve never been close to a poisonous snake that I know of.
💜
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. Luke 16:10 ESV
***Gratitude Journal*** Today, I am thankful for the example of Godliness that my beautiful friend Lisa demonstrated throughout her life. And I’m really, REALLY thankful that I wasn’t sitting on that chair on the porch right under that big fat snake!!!