Visitors

Last night at the Burrow we welcomed a first visit from my brother and his family.  They drove south from Indy to have dinner with us.  It was a treat for my in-laws who live next door too, they have fond memories of my brother from when he and I lived together here in town and attended college.  

It was fun to show off the new/old place and talk with my family about our plans to change things up in here.

While "touring" the Burrow we found Lily, the huntress, at work in the basement.  I thought she was smelling a worm.  It turned out to be a baby Ringneck Snake: totally harmless to humans and pets.    Guess who started in with her, "Can I keep it?" talk?  Of course my response was, "No."  I really don't mind snakes, but he was so little!  He really needed to go back outside if he had any chance of surviving.  In the end, my no was overridden.  Both dad and grandpa said sure.  Not sure when grandpa started having a vote on pets living in our house!  

My SIL commented before she left our house that she thought it was nice that we weren't scared of snakes.  

Snakey found his home for the evening to be a plastic box.  The box had some grass clippings, leaves and a few flowers in it...just in case he wanted to smell them!  I did some research on what exactly Snakey was before we went to bed.  I found out he was a Ringneck Snake.  They can live for up to 10 years!  They eat bugs when young but eventually will eat mice.  Seeing as how he is harmless to us, he's actually not a bad snake to have around.  In my research I did find out that they do not do very well in captivity.  I read all my information out loud to the future zookeeper and she decided that in the morning she'd let Snakey go.  

Another fact about snakes to share, I know they can slip through very small spaces.  My daughter will learn this fact when she gets up today.  Our future zookeeper was worried last night that Snakey might not have enough air to breathe in his box so she left the lid ajar.  

Oh, Huntress...