Sunday, April 18, 2004

Snake!

So, I was sitting at my computer in my basement office, reading my email. I became vaguely aware of something on the wall directly behind my monitor. After a few seconds, the small part of my brain that isn't devoted to what the computer is doing sent a bit of an alert: “Hey, that thing on the wall is moving.” The alert kicked up to Infrared Level 5 when I realized it was a two-and-a-half foot long snake!


My wife heard me exclaim something unprintable, and came down to find out what was up. We sort of stared at it for a while as it made its way slowly up the unfinished wall. Eventually, we figured out that the best thing was to just go ahead and grab it and let it go outside. I put on my work gloves and got ready to do the deed, but the closer I got to it, the slower I moved. A bit like Xeno's Paradox, really. Eventually, my wife got tired of waiting for me and took the gloves and grabbed it herself. She rocks.

11 comments:

  1. damn dude...where do you live anyway ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. In the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C. Just outside the Capital Beltway.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maybe it's time to finish your basement renovation. I'd start by filling up that hole in the floor.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have to think that the snake got in some other way than by tunneling 20 feet through clay to come up via the hole. :p

    ReplyDelete
  5. Craig, you're making guy geeks look bad... : )

    ReplyDelete
  6. What are you Indiana Jones?

    For future reference, all of the venomous snakes in your area are rattlers, with the the exception of the Coral snake, which is brightly marked with red, yellow, and black bands.

    http://www.pestproducts.com/snake_pictures.htm

    Still the gloves were probably a good idea, lots of snakes release a nasty smelling musk when you grab them.

    Rob

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey, every superhero has his weakness. ;)

    We're fairly sure it was a black kingsnake, which is harmless.

    The gloves turned out to be a double-good idea, since it bit the glove when Alice grabbed it. It wouldn't have been more of a pinprick, but she might have dropped the snake or flung it at me or hurt it. :p

    ReplyDelete
  8. On further consultation, it was probably a rat snake.

    ReplyDelete
  9. i recently ran into the exact ordeal. i do believe i need to fill in the cracks in my basement. whats funny is that my snake looks very similar to yours, and i've been wondering what kind is it. i had to atleast trap it so it was not roaming terrorizing my daughter and i. i was totally freaking out trying to sweep it down out of the corner of my basement wall, i could here my mother laughing on the cell phone lying on the floor. it's still down there under 3 paper bags and a crate filled with car maintenance products. all the men i know are too scared to lift the crate (they were literally panicky! it was so funny. i quess i have to go down there soon...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Clearly, you need a pregnant Chinese woman to grab it for you: that's what worked for me. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. thats scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete