My Turn to See a Snake

November 15, 2024

My friend Jeanne from ajeanneinthekitchen.com, had a snake in her garage just a couple of days ago. What’s a snake doing out in Colorado when they’ve just has a foot of snow? Bruce said, “that snake is just trying to stay warm.”

Yesterday, Bruce had a very startlingly encounter with a copperhead snake. The Jekyll Island Authorities come by to read my father-in-law’s water meter. There were two young men (as Bruce described them) in the Jekyll Island Authority clothing who wanted to get into the back yard to read the water meter.

Bruce checked with his dad who said “yes, they can go into the backyard.”

Once they were in the backyard, they couldn’t find the water meter. My father-in-law said, “It’s in the front, next to the driveway on the east side.”

Bruce and the two young men looked for the water meter. My father-in-law came out and said, “not that driveway, the other driveway.” He meant the neighbors’ driveway.

They found the water meter and opened it up to get a reading. (The sending unit was having a problem.) When they opened it, there was a bright colored snake with a head wider than the body hiding in the water meter box. (Copperhead snake)

For some reason, no one wanted to put their hand down in the box to clear it. The snake wasn’t happy and slide further into the box, out of sight.

Bruce said they were able to get a water meter reading using a stick to clear away the sand and other debris.

The snake had disappeared and they didn’t see it again.

My snake sighting was early this afternoon.

Around lunch time, I looked out the sliding back door and saw a small dog that was larger than Nox. I’m guessing it weighted about 30 pounds. Nox weighs 18 pounds. I could see it ribs and thought it might be a stray.

I realized it had a collar and a chain around its neck. It was an escape artist. It stood shivering outside the door. I felt bad for it and thought if I could catch it, I would give it something to eat and see if it had a tag on the collar.

As soon as I opened the back door, it took off. It ran to the fence on the south side of the property. I slowly walked towards the dog, saying, “good dog, that’s a good dog.” It didn’t want anything to do with me and ran all the way to the ditch by the road. I didn’t see it get on the road.

Later, I got to thinking about the chain the dog was dragging and how it might get caught in the brushes by the ditch.

I decided I’d just make sure it wasn’t tangled up.

I walked down the driveway, then along the ditch in our yard. I was looking into the ditch when I spotted a snake coiled up on the bank of the ditch sunning, about 3 feet from me. It was a dull grayish snake with a dull yellow pattern.

As I spotted the snake, I found myself stepping a few steps backwards very quickly. I stopped, pulled out my phone to get a picture and that seemed to scare the snake. It slithered to the ditch so fast I didn’t get a picture. I wanted to use the picture to see what kind of snake it was.

I was very surprised to see a snake out today. The high was only 60 degrees F.

The dog was not tangled up in brush in the ditch. I just hope it makes it home safely. I have no idea where it went.