ahhh… nature

Posted by Ashley on June 5, 2005

I’ve been working in the yard a lot over the last week or so, and today I was trying to cut down a nandina bush/tree with lopping shears. All of a sudden, there are several grackles squawking on a bush near me. I rarely see grackles, but when I do, they’re never that close. I’m saying, “Hey friendly birds! Look at you! Here birdie birdie birdie!” There were probably 6 of them, and they were chirping and squawking so friendly-like, hopping down into the grass near me and on the cement.

And then a 4 FOOT LONG SNAKE (green and black) slithers out of the bush, across my front sidewalk, and into the grass! After thinking “I wonder if I can cut it’s head off with my tiny-bladed clippers?” and lunging at it a couple of times and “narrowly” missing, my next thought was, “I’d better stop this – with my luck it will come around and bite me…”

My next thought after that was “I can’t believe I don’t have my camera on me!!!” at which point I scared him and he took off faster and then disappeared. I’m very creeped out by the disappearing part. But I’ve been informed that it was a garden snake, which doesn’t bite and it eats mice and rats, so it’s good I didn’t kill it.

I also smushed a slug (or something) which oozed bright aqua-blue goo. Do they usually do that? It just wasn’t my day for nature-stuff, since the nandina has no intention of coming out without a chainsaw or backhoe (which is weird for a clump of 7 or 8 tall bushes with trunks about an inch in diameter).

At least I have an internet connection again!

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