Snakes!

August 3, 2013 I was out in the barn today, shifting lumber that I store on the open joists. I had some more lumber and plywood to hang up there. I was using a ladder at one end and the back of the truck on the other to shift and lift the lumber and plywood that was already stored there. 

It must be a fault of mine, but I have a difficult time throwing old lumber away. I always think I might be able to use it for something else and I have done that before. The lumber and plywood had hundreds of mud dabber nests on it, so I was dodging wasps and failing to dodge the dust, dirt and mud as it rained down on my head. It took me 2.5 hours to shift and change what was there and prepare for placing what I had in the back of the truck up on the cleared area. I was down to just two boards to transfer and when I lifted the top one that was canted over the bottom one, there was a black snake coiled under there. He had to be there just above my head the whole time I was working. I had been trying to lift the stack several times and could not do so, so I kept removing the top boards to lighten the load. Black snakes are not really aggressive, or he probably would have struck out at me being so close. I was so concerned with dodging wasps that I never thought of snakes. I have no doubt that had he struck and bit me I would have fallen off the ladder and really gotten hurt bouncing off my bench or the truck tailgate.

I had to go back to the house and bathe after all the dirt and dust that landed on me. I suppose snakes and other critters are just a part of life here on the farm. I don’t know why they continue to surprise me every time I see them.