HERALD DEMOCRAT (Sherman, Texas) 19 July 07 Snake in garden (Kathy Williams)
“Hey, Kathy, come look at this!” My husband yelled to me.
I ran into the living room and looked out the window at the front garden, which is bookended by two giant and ancient redbud trees. What I saw immediately sent me back in time when I first saw the color plate picture in my little Bible of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Seeing a snake slithering down the trunk of the tree immediately sent my punny mind to thinking, “There’s a snake in the garden of eatin.’” In this month of rain, the only plants I grow that actually produce food live in containers in my front garden.
My vegetable garden is a swamp. I should’ve grown mushrooms this year, or maybe rice.
Meanwhile, back at the window, the snake slithered down the tree and across a section of sidewalk into my circular garden. (Can snakes move otherwise from slithering?) They jump and strike and I’ve heard of some that roll up in a hoop and roll on, I’m not sure if that’s just an old tale. There’s an old song about a crawlin’ king snake. So this shiny black snake hid out among the herbs. I kind of shuddered thinking how many times after dark I had just reached in there and clipped some sage or rosemary.
I ran in to grab my camera and my husband kept a lookout to see if the snake emerged. I ate breakfast at the door, waiting for it to come out. I picked out a cane in case I needed to wrangle it. Understand, I don’t know if I could “wrangle it” but I’ve seen a lot of television nature shows and I’d give it a shot.
It didn’t appear to be a poisonous snake, so we weren’t going to kill it. Finally it wiggled its way (oh there’s a good expression of snake locomotion) across the other sidewalk, saw me and froze so I could take a picture of it. It sat for a long time and I got some good pictures. I hope it lives near my garden and eats the nasties like rats that are coming out of the rain soaked fields.
Snake in garden