I am absolutely terrified of SNAKES. I can't even look at them on TV or in pictures. Everyone that knows me knows that I can walk on air, maybe that should be RUN on air if I see a snake. I will scream, jump and run like a wild woman if I see one! I don't care if they are dead or alive, I don't want to see them. I have been told I could scare a snake to death! Why not, They nearly scare me to death!
I have lived in Texas my entire life and have seen lots of snakes. That fact has not made it any easier to deal with. I heard on the news back in early spring that due to last winters weather we are going to have real problems with snakes this year. Needless to say, I had nightmares for a week after hearing that news. We live in the country, and living in the country means having snakes around.
People laugh at me because for the past few years I tape the inside of the front door (we never use the front door) I use wide packing tape to seal the door. The reason for this is because a couple of years ago we had a snake sighting on the front porch. He was pretty good size. He got away! Last fall I was sitting in the living room and looked over to see a snake on the window ledge looking in at me. He was about a foot long. He got away! One afternoon our door bell rang and there was young girl at our front door to report cows out on the road and told us she just saw the biggest snake she had ever seen in the shrubs next to our porch. He got away! We saw a rather large snake on the driveway last summer. He was every bit three foot long. He was ran over by a dually pickup. But he still got away! We spotted one on our patio. He got away! Dawn shot at one in the back yard last fall.It was about three foot long. She shot several times but it was difficult to shot. I had to call the neighbor (over 80 years old). he KILLED it with a hoe. A month ago my son found one about three foot long in the dog pen. The dog was playing with it! He killed it with a hoe. A few weeks ago I was vacuuming at the office where I work and sucked a snake up the vacuum hose. It was a little over a foot long. It was behind the door in the kitchen. Luckily, one of the guys was able to get it out of the hose and kill it. It took me over an hour to calm down.
Yesterday Dawn was in the front yard watering flower when she almost stepped on a snake that was over four feet long. She calls me at the office and said she needed me to call and wake my son up that was in the house. She was keeping her eye on the snake to see where he was going so it wouldn't get away. I kept her on the line while I used my cell phone to call my son.I had to call him several times to wake him up. When he finally answered, I told him I needed him to wake up and grab a hoe on the patio and go out to the front yard and meet Dawn who was keeping her eyes on a large snake. I can't imagine what he was thinking at that moment. He was half a sleep and I was trying to give him instructions on killing a snake over the phone. He must have thought he was dreaming. I am never calm when talking about snakes! He is not afraid of snakes, he is however terrified of spiders! I can handle a spiders, so if he will kill the snakes, I will kill the spiders!
I hang up the phone with him and let Dawn know that I have woke my son and that he would be out to help her in a moment. She tells me the snake has not moved. It is just laid out in the grass. She then reports to me that my son is there. She points to the snake and my son says holy @#%* and that he chopping off the snakes head. He couldn't believe how long it was either.
Dawn takes a picture of my son holding the snake so we could see how long it was. It was about five feet long. I would have died on the spot, if I came across that snake in the yard!!!