*not true to scale

There was a big storm here last night. This made me edgy and fake smiley with the kids, it's our first tornado season in tornado alley. With no basement I can admit it makes me a little nervous. We weathered the storm playing a dozen games of Mad Libs and laughing at our adjectives and nouns that got rather vulgar. The storm passed and we were okay! I shall reenact what happened next, please note these are actors portraying the chain of events and certain items are not true to scale.

Most everyone was off to bed.

I tucked in the little ones.

I stepped outside to look for damage-- I saw a snake in the screen porch. I can't say I like snakes. They are creepy and look slimy and this one looked as if it would bite. I wasn't feeling very brave.

Sam and I used garden tools and a broom hoping to shoo it out. It wouldn't leave. I was feeling even less brave than before. Why do we look so happy?

Even though I love animals and gently let bugs out of the house to fly for freedom...I tried to shoot this snake. I used a BB gun which in reality is silly. I'm confident I could have used a rifle but didn't want to blast a hole in the wall of the house and have to live that down forever. But I did think about it many times. Notice Nana peering out of the door. We were all scared, she was going from window to window with a gallon of paint asking me to drop it on the snake. She has always been resourceful.

I finally called my helpful neighbor to save the day. And he did, catching the snake and taking it to the back of his property to slither away for freedom. Nana, Sam and I hugged and cheered.

Then we all went back in the house. You know all that talk about facing your fears? I think I am more afraid of snakes now. Every time I see a stick in the grass I jump with fear. Snakes are creepy!