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I should start this story sharing that my wife purchased toy snakes to place on the mirrors of our white van to deter birds from leaving their unwanted deposits. It seems to be somewhat of an effective strategy. So, when walking up the steps of our home and seeing a black tail hanging out of a window shade close to our entrance door, I was thinking one of our young grandsons had left it there while playing. Then again, I could not recall seeing a black toy snake!

When touching the tail very gently, it moved, and I then knew for sure it was a real one. I called for my wife whose shrill fortunately did not scare the snake from its position just as my touch had not. Like me, the snake was likely wondering how it got in our home and wondering how it could return to nature while looking out the window.

I was thinking: What should I do?

My wife kept on repeating, “David, do something!”

I'm not the quickest problem solver but realized this one needed immediate attention while the snake's head was looking out the window and not at me There was no time to contact Pest Control, no time to contact an animal organization, no time to call on my neighbor who had snake removal expertise. Fortunately, I was dealing with a black snake, not a poisonous snake. I certainly had an advantage at this point. After all, I had watched the show with python hunters, and thankfully this was not a python! However, it was a snake, and snakes have never ranked high on my list while hearing lots of stories from my parents due to each coming from the hills of Kentucky.

I opened the entrance doors, retrieved some paper towels to put around my hands (not sure why), grabbed the tail, pulled it from the shade, and slung it out the door with my wife making a variety of sounds during those few frantic seconds. It landed on our small deck, understandably curled up in a defensive mode, looked at me, and then all four feet of it crawled to our driveway where it curled up again. I raked it toward the end of the driveway while it remained in a curled-up position. My wife, in the meantime, is watching and expressing how she feels the life of this snake should come to an end. She did not want to take any chances of it returning to our home. I reluctantly threw her the keys to our Venza, but it was too late as she watched the snake slither through a small opening in our shed!

Perfect, I thought. It could take care of the mice.

Then again, I didn't really want to meet it again. I opened the doors hoping it would find its way out. Why, I am not sure since it had already proven that snakes don't really need an opening that large.

Afterward, my wife asked me to thoroughly check all the rooms and closets, as well as under the beds, in our home for a possible roommate. I did the same after returning from a Florida vacation. Admittedly, I still look at that particular window shade differently each time I look that way which is frequently. I keep on trying to assure my wife it was a fluke, that the snake probably entered our home through the garage while leaving the doors up or out of a recently placed farm box close to the windows. However, she is more convicted than ever to make sure our home is ant proof, spider proof, mice proof, and snake proof. I know if I do not abide by her wishes, I could find myself living in the shed with the black snake and other critters.

* Note: When sharing this snake story, I always hear another one. There are lots of snake stories!