"....Your children shall be like olive plants all around your table." Psalm 128:3

Thursday, July 26, 2012

My Hubby, The Snake Handler

My hubby brings home the bacon - he works very hard to provide for our family.

However, a paycheck is not all he's been known to bring home. Just last week, he brought home this little guy....
..a two-ft. long garter snake. He found it on a roof (of all places!), picked it up, put it in his snake bag (an old pillow case), and brought it home.

When he got home, he walked in the door and told the boys, "I brought a snake home for you. Take him out in the back yard and play with him for a little while. Then let him go."  My boys could hardly contain their excitement as the raced outside to meet their new "playmate".

Now, all of this might sound a little strange - or downright terrifying - to those who don't like snakes. And I know the feeling. I used to be a snake-a-phobic myself, with an irrational fear of them... until I married a man who picks them up as they slither through our front yard.

Years ago, my response the "go out and play with him" phrase would have been a gentle tap on hubby's shoulder and saying, "Ummmm, excuse me??" Not anymore. I've gotten used to my hubby bringing those critters home, grabbing them while we're in woods, fields, near the river, etc.

However, I've never seen him go after a rattle snake until.....

...last summer. As we were driving on a dirt road, we saw a snake along the edge of the road. As we got closer, hubby said, "It's a rattler!" at which time I expected him to keeping driving. Nope. He threw the van in "Park" and jumped out to get a closer look.  (Yikes!  My blood pressure pretty much spiked at this point!)

But unlike the stories you hear about rattlers, this one was not aggressive at all. In fact, my hubby wanted him to rattle for the children, but it took several minutes to get some noise out of him. The snake kept trying to escape into the woods. Hubby finally got a stick and after trying and trying, the snake was finally irritated enough to rattle. (And just so you know, my blood pressure was most definitely in stroke range by this time!)

After he began rattling, he slithered up on the stick that hubby was holding...slowly working his way towards his hand! (and my bp is still going up, up...)
After the snake was completely stretched out on the stick,  hubby moved him to the other side of the road...out of the line of traffic. ( bp is slowly starting to come down at this point...thankfully). As we pulled away, we could still hear him rattling. It was a sound that I - and my children - will never forget.

Back to my snake-a- phobic days....I always thought that the "only good snake is a dead snake", as the local saying goes. I was terrified of  finding one in the yard, flower beds, garden, and anywhere else in nature.

But my hubby has helped me overcome my fear. Not that I want to run out and try to pick up a rattler. No thanks. But I am not scared of seeing them outside anymore, and I am gaining enough courage to at least touch (and hopefully, eventually hold) Ian's 56-inch pet black rat snake named Samson...
Notice in the photo Ian is holding most of the snake. In other words, he's there for "support" - for me, that is.....in case I come to my senses and drop the critter.   ;)

My next step is holding the snake - without Ian.  I'll be sure to post a pic of that day, whenever it comes.

One more thing. Where did Samson come from, you ask?? My hubby brought him home from work. But you  probably had already guessed that.   :)

Have a blessed day, friends!










"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."
~ 2 Timothy 1:7

14 comments:

  1. Wow Lisa, I didn't know your husband was a snake handler, lol. I'm not fond of snakes, thankfully up here we just have garters. Once one decided to have it's babies in our garage. so when the girls spotted the adult in the yard, I got the ax and came at it like an ax murderer...their mild-mannered, animal-lov'n mama really layed into that poor snake. Word must have got out because I haven't seen too many near the house since. Your men-folk can have their snakes, I'll stick with the more domestic types. I can't imagine even seeing pretty-ladylike-you holding a snake.

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    1. Ha ha, Jane! My grandma was just like you: she would go after a snake with her corn cutter and there would be nothing left of it! :) I was always too afraid of them to kill them. As far as me holding them, I decided "if you can beat 'em, join 'em!" ;)
      Hope you're having a lovely week, my friend. :)

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  2. Ugh. Just ugh. I'm so phobic about them. Thank goodness no poisonous ones where we are. Just garter snakes. My boys used to love to play with them One got bitten, though, and had a fever that evening.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Ellie Rae. Several years ago while playing with a garter snake, Ian was bitten. There were no problems, but I secretly hoped that it scared him enough to make him not want to hold them anymore. It didn't. He can identify venomous snakes, thankfully, but he still goes after the harmless ones..like father, like son. :)
      Hope you're having a great week!

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  3. Wow! Too bad your hubby wasn't around to catch the 3 snakes we've killed in the past few weeks. They were eating the eggs in our hen house and one even killed 4 baby chicks and ate 3 of them! We're not snake-friendly folks, so they had no chance with us. :)

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    1. Hi Andrea,
      Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment. My hubby would have been glad to take care of your snake problem. He's often called on by family/friends to remove snakes. We have had snakes (and just about every other kind of critter) in our hen house, too. Thankfully, my hubby has a low tolerance for that, and gets rids of whatever it is that's causing problems...snake or otherwise. :)
      hope you're having a wonderful week.
      Blessings!

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  4. Lisa, you are braver than I. Terrified is not the proper word to describe my fear. ;-)

    So blessed to have received your comment.

    God bless you,

    Jasmine

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  5. So glad you stopped by, Jasmine. :) Hope you have a blessing-filled week-end.
    Love in Christ,
    Lisa

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  6. Can't stand them. Don't think I ever will like them. Gives me the weeby-jeebies just thinking about them... So glad you've "embraced" what your dh clearly enjoys. :) That roadside experience with the rattler should remain in your children's memories and will likely be a story they share with their young ones some day.

    Blessings,

    ~Lisa

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  7. You're right, Lisa: the children are still talking about it and was over a year ago. ;)
    Hope you're having a wonderful week-end!
    Blessings,
    Lisa

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  8. In my country life not real snakes. Only adders. They are not very dangerous. I would be very scared of snakes like yours. But ... your story is wonderful to read. I love it.

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  9. Hello Jedidja,
    Thanks so much for stopping by. We don't have any adders in our area; at least, not that I know of. And this rattlesnake is the only one we've seen in our area...thankfully. :)
    Hope you're having a wonderful day!
    Many blessings,
    Lisa

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  10. Oh my...what a neat post. Lady....I would be crying to Jesus. I am not kidding. :)

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    1. Ha ha, Chrissy! I was praying pretty fervently when hubby was around that rattler. But he was careful and didn't let it get too close. He's my very own version of Steve Irwin. :)
      Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a lovely day.
      Many blessings,
      Lisa

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Thanks so much for stopping by. I love to hear from my readers, and your thoughts are welcome. And I try my best to respond to each and every comment. :)