That’s No. 1 on the list of Things I Never Thought I’d Say to My Kids.
But that’s what happens when you return to your writing desk and find this:
It’s one of those jointed plastic snakes that wriggle and turn. The kind of cheap prize you get at kid’s carnival games (which is where I’m pretty sure this came from).
At any rate, one of my daughters called from the other room to announce that she’d found the rest of the snake’s body. Out of context, this would be very peculiar unless we lived in, I don’t know, the Louisiana bayou?
What animals, if any, have you encountered this week, plastic or otherwise?
Here in my house we mostly have cats. In the backyard we get birds, squirrels, lizards, opossums, raccoons, and the occasional skunk. Snakes seem to avoid my house. Rarely do missing heads, or other body parts end up on my desk. When they do, I just blame the cats.
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A cat brought a dead gopher to our door. Maybe she brought the plastic snake too.
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Only my husband. That phrase works well, like in motels when they ask, “Any pets?” Being cooped up brings out the beast in all of us. My husband is binge-watching movies. I’m bingeing on sugar.
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Brings out the beast in all of us–Clever!
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I found the growl from a coyote in my backyard. That was fun.
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Eek!
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I hope it’s all right with you, no corona, keep everything evil away from you !!!!!
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Still a-okay here, NZ. Thanks. Hope the same for you!
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Thank you very much!! thank you, yes here in Germany, everything top and OK everything great, but my sister in Cairo, unfortunately she should love to hand god, she would have to go !!!
but did not die of Corona. ((She was simply sad), wish you and her family all well. !!! God, protect them all!!!
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God bless her and her family.
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I thank them 1001 thank you beautifully to all, God bless you and their family, also many thanks for their compassion,
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I hear more interesting ones than I see. There’s a bird outside that sounds like a squeaky squeeze toy — the kind that makes a very breathy whistle both inhaling and exhaling. More often I hear the ones who say either, “We need you, we need you,” or, “Germany, Germany, Germany.” I heard the coyotes again one nice night last week. The frogs peep a lot.
Other people are seeing the herons and bears. This is the time of year I expect turtle traffic.
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Turtle traffic! That sounds fun. 🙂
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They cross this road from south to north heading for one of two ponds. They’re a model of concentration on a goal.
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I imagine you need to concentrate not to run them over!
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I found a real snake head in our back yard when an 8 ft black snake patrolled the grounds. With an abundance of Copperheads in the area, I’m happy to have him slithering around.
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Wow!
Eight feet—shudder!
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1. One calico cat (ours)
2. A second calico cat (our neighbor’s)
3. Tropical fish (9 tiger barbs, 3 giant danios, 1 bala shark, 1 algae eater)
4. A bunch of yellow birds around our birdfeeder
5. A red squirrel trying to steal the black oil sunflower seeds from the birdfeeder
6. Several fat earthworms while digging in the garden
7. A chicken (whole, previously frozen, cooked for dinner last night)
8. A rubber duck on my desk dressed in Sturgis motorcycle gear with “Does it look like I give a quack?” written on it
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Wow! That is QUITE the detailed list! My favorite would have to be the addition of #7. Number 8 is a close second for its sheer randomness.
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You did say plastic or otherwise. I’m assuming rubber counts. I mean, it’s right here, next to my monitor, every single day, all day long. I see more of this duck than my wife.
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You see the duck more than your wife? That’s a quacking shame.
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Our apartment looks out onto a dog park. Our cats are thrilled.
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My children thought it was funny to put a very realistic plastic spider on my nightstand. Kids!
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Mine did that to my mom when she visited. Kids, indeed! 😛
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lol!
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Hahaha thankfully no snakes this week (or any week). Just some pigeons today.
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Oh good. Pigeons are definitely preferable to snakes!
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I remember those! For now, just the cat–the cat is driving us all crazy:)
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The cat is thinking the same about all of you, I’m sure! 😉
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I so enjoy your sense of humor. I love it when I say some sentence that is absurd but really is meaningful. As for seeing animals around here… I saw a deer saunter through our front yard the other afternoon. He was not made of plastic. Thanks for the laugh.
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I so miss the days of seeing deer wander through my yard. Now I’m more likely to see a coyote. Kind of neat still, but far more creepy.
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I agree. And it’s not just because I root for the Roadrunner… 😉
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Seeing a roadrunner also happens on very rare occasion. Much happier site than the coyote!
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[And now, of course, I’m singing the theme song from the cartoon. So thanks, I think…]
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Haha! You’re welcome??
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But I’m also happy to see my “hometown animals”–raccoons, bunnies, and squirrels.
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I relate better fo coyotes than deer. Coyotes at least are carnivores. Wolfie approves, even though he’s already stuffed.
The deer by my road are devil-may-care about traffic. When one herd crossed in front of a car my friend Allson was driving me in, one stayed back until it saw me stop, wagged its tail like, “thanks, bye-bye”, then crossed. When I was driving another time, a few of them raced me alongside, just off the road. My housemate Bob explains that deer often challenge what they see as a potential predator, by carrying on like that with feats of daring, to show that they’ll fight you hard if you try to eat them.
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Wow. That’s interesting. Having them run next to you sounds so neat.
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A cat! Then again, I encounter her every day.
The snake head is funny, Strangely, I’m not bothered by snakes, but insects–shriek!–that is another story. Fun post! 🙂
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The neighbor’s cat tries to get into our house nearly every day. She is always at least lounging about near the doors. I do like her, though. 🙂 Kind of wish I could keep her, but it also feels like I already do!
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LOL! You kind of have joint custody 😉
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Yep! Without having to feed her!
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I would pass on both the snakes and the insects, personally!
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🙂
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The Gnome King and I came across a coyote poop this past weekend. We did not investigate too carefully, but it created some coyote-anxiety that we needed to process. We also saw a real snake that I tried to catch, but it was way too fast! It wasn’t pink. 😀
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Chasing after and trying to catch snakes! You brave woman, you! I remember catching snakes as a girl. They ALWAYS peed on me. But as an adult, blech. No thank you.
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Ha. I haven’t had that snake experience. I might give up on them too!
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You’ll give up on them b/c you’re disappointed they haven’t peed on you too? 😉
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Yep, they’ll do that. Also, fun fact, when rat snakes pee on you, it’s not just pee, it’s actually a substance called “snake musk” that smells like burning tires and is very hard to get the smell of out of clothes.
Trust me, I learned that the hard way, and honestly I’m still kinda mad. That shirt was comfortable, dammit!
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Haha! I’m so sorry for the loss of your comfy shirt. That rat snake is still smirking, I’ll bet.
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Pretty sure he’s got more than one reason for that. I’ve still got a little scar on my finger from where that rat snake bit real’ hard. Also, the school secretary still hasn’t forgiven me for bringing 3 feet of live snake into a high school, not least because she fainted when she saw it. Yeah, it’s safe to say that was a very unusual day for all parties involved.
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OMG! Haha! And also, yikes!
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I just turned a little spider out back into the wild (out the balcony!) … but we get all sorts of critters coming by, living by the Botanic Gardens.
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Living by botanic gardens sounds awesome. Critters in your house, not so much!
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For living ‘in town’ we have quite the animal population in our back yard. Probably because of our proximity to a creek that runs behind us. Last week…..a crane! Deer, birds, rabbits, squirrels.
AND! guess what arrived? It was on my amazon list FOREGVER ! SOMEBODY’S book! 🙂 I will be reading it today. I’m very excited!!!
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All those animals sound so very very lovely!! You lucky girl. (Make sure they’re at our cabin, too, ‘kay?) 😉 And happy reading!!! 🙂
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Thank you! And I am THOROUGHLY enjoying the humor of parenting. Man it brings back memories and makes me laugh. And think. And wish I had read it many years ago!
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I’m so glad my book is bringing back happy memories. 🙂 If you think of it, when you’re finished, an Amazon review would be very kind of you.
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Of course! I know the value of a review!!!!!
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Your question in the title is what caught my attention because it’s a question that I seem to ask several times a week. Amazing! … Hi Betsy. Hope all is well, stay safe.
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Several times a week! Oh, Frank, how you kid! So great to see you! Love when you stop by. Yep, all’s still well over here. I trust the same for you?
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I thought everyone had missing snake heads around the house! … Yep … All well here and not going bonkers!
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Not going bonkers, you say, yet that first statement has me wondering about your mental state there, Frank. 😉
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You remind me, Betsy, how stepping on small lego pieces can be very painful. We do have grandchildren and chaos when they used to come over before our social distancing. They are into Polly Pockets. Lots of tiny parts. I miss the chaos. Hope you are well.
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A minefield of legos on bare feet could be a torture technique!
And this feels extremely weird to type, but, I hope the chaos returns for you soon! 🙂
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Hahahah this took me right back to my childhood! 😂 At least no day is ever boring there, you never know what you might find!! xx
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I’m just grateful it wasn’t a real snake! Thanks, I M, for the visit!
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Haha! I’m glad it was plastic! Your post caught my eye. A neighbor spotted what he thinks was a copperhead snake on our walking trail this week. I have to say I saw a picture that was posted and it doesn’t look exactly what I found on the internet, but still, when I was out today I was looking!
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Oh, man. I would be so nervous about snakes on my walking trail! Poisonous or no, eep!
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I’ve been out there several times since the sighting and haven’t seen a snake. I’ve decided not to worry about it 🙂
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Oh good! 🙂
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I was outside planting flowers and herbs with the grandkids yesterday when I looked down and something moved on our driveway. It was a toad (not a snake thank God). We also saw spiders and worms.
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The toad was probably lots of fun for all. Glad for you it wasn’t a snake!
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At least you didn’t step on the head with bare feet. Of course, it wouldn’t be as bad as stepping on Legos with bare feet. We sometimes find tufts of rabbit fur around, whether courtesy of hawks or the dogs, who knows. Fun fact: there is a bird called a gray catbird that sounds like–you guessed it–a cat meowing. Seriously. Not nearly as nice as a real cat, though 😀
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Haha! That gray catbird doesn’t sound like as much fun to pet as a real cat, either.
Legos are bad, for sure. Turns out marbles are quite awful too. You can probably guess how I know that.
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A rabbit. A black rabbit. Under my car. There are lots of rabbits on this island.
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p.s. tell your daughter I’m glad she found the rest of the snake.
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Yes, me too!
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How intriguing. What island?
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San Juan Island in Washington
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Neat!
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