snakes

 I have had several encounters with snakes in my life, none of them poisonous, but all memorable to me.  It started when I was a child when my father jokingly referred to tapioca pudding as 'snake eyes.'  I do not eat tapioca.  When I was a little older my mother, in a effort to help me think kindly about snakes, told me about her grandmother who kept two large black snakes in her basement to kill any mice that tried to get into the house.  We did not keep snakes in the basement but, since we lived in the country for most of my growing up years, we occasionally saw snakes in the grass.  My youngest brother (that west coast brother I often refer to) wrapped a dead snake around the gas peddle in my car which, when I realized what my foot was on, got me out of that car, and chasing my brother, at a speed I have never duplicated since.  One of the funniest scenes I remember (while not funny for the snake) happened when our miniature dachshund Remington managed to kill a garter snake when we were all outside doing yard work.  He immediately went into "Look at me, the mighty hunter." mode.  He ran around the yard flinging that snake into the air, catching it, and repeating the process over and over again.  Throughout his life Remington chased lots of squirrels and an occasional cat but that snake was the only wild life he ever caught.  Tomorrow night, memories of Charlotte.