Random bits and bobs and snakes

We had a busy day today, and the kids were troopers.

• We started at The Works, making cars. I'll do a detailed post later, but it was fun! None of our friends were there, which was too bad, but we still had a good time!
  

• While we were there, my sister J called to announce the birth of my sister C's baby! We knew it was today (scheduled c-section), but they didn't know what they were having. A little girl, so sweet! That was our plan for the rest of the day, visit the new baby and then spend some time with the baby's big brother. The weather was perfect for outdoor play! That doesn't mean the kids wanted to play outside...

• After the visit to the baby, we followed J back to her house. We were a little behind her. When we arrived at her house, she and C (my nephew) were standing outside the garage looking at the floor by the door. Hmmm. I got out of the car and was greeted with "thank goodness!" along with pointing. Snakes. 2 of them. Just little garter snakes, but still snakes. J doesn't like snakes. A couple of years ago I picked one up while we were camping, so apparently I am the snake woman. These two just sat there. At first I thought they were dead, so I had J get a shovel. I touched the first one, and it move a bit, so it wasn't dead. So I grabbed it by the tail, nearly hit C in the face with it (I didn't know he was behind me), and carried it off to the wilds of the yard. The second snake was trickier. It was stuck. Seriously stuck. It had put its head through a hole in the track for the garage door. It got halfway through, but that was it. I WISH I had taken a picture. I am certain I will never see that again. I gave a little tug at its tail, but nothing. The snake went all rigid for a second, with some weird bends in its body, but it didn't move. So I grabbed gently a little higher up. It took some effort, but eventually I got it free. I did scrape a bit of skin off the belly, but since snakes shed their skin, hubby assured me it was probably fine. It likely would have died if I hadn't intervened, so I guess a little skin loss isn't the worst thing.

• I don't like snakes. Glad to know I can handle them if I have to.

• This is one of those things that I do because I feel it is important for my kids to see me not showing fear. Garter snakes are not harmful. They will bite, but they aren't dangerous to humans. I also want my kids to see what is appropriate, and what isn't. We didn't kill the snakes. We set them free some distance from the house. I also didn't approach the snakes without knowing what they were and what was going on. Teachable, right?