Written on 5/15/09, in response to a list discussion about fear of snakes
(in Remembrance series)
Parker decided to take me for a walk this afternoon. As he is a big, gentle, sweet fellow, it wouldn’t even occur to me to refuse, so we walked around to the front yard together. As we walked along the drop to the road, something that I was stepping across caught my peripheral vision and stopped my heart! There lay an enormous (in the heat of the moment it seemed so) big black and wiggly thing with a head like an asp and a tail that rattled the dead leaves lying buried in the grass as if it were a rattlesnake! When my blood pressure dropped back to normal, and my eyes went from Zoom to reality, it was “only” a medium size black rat snake, probably less than 5’ long. (The red ones, also called corn snakes, are prettier and perhaps they don’t appear quite as intimidating as their larger shiny black relatives.)
I was glad that Parker was on leash still. He wasn’t intimidated with it or fascinated either at first. The more he watched it, the more interesting it was. The more interested Parker became, the more threat posture the snake assumed. Parker began barking at the snake. Getting Parker to move would have either meant giving him a serious command or pulling on a ton of bricks, and since we were out for enjoyment at his invitation, I circled him to the other side of the snake so it could climb up the tree. The tree, a Maple, had very dark, almost black bark, so the snake disappeared into the tree as it climbed. Parker watched for a moment then looked around, apparently puzzled about how the snake could be in front of him one moment then gone the next.
Another outdoor adventure shared with a Newf! <g>
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