Grasping At Straws

I encountered the first snake of the season Friday.

Ginny & I had not planned anything for this weekend but a flurry of phone calls reveal that we are hosting an Easter cookout; so I worked all day Friday preparing the yard for visitors.

I found the garden snake, between 18 and 24 inches long, sunning in the grass near the pool steps. Not wanting to mulch him with the mower, I captured him and moved him into a fern bed — three times.

He kept running back to the same spot I picked him up from so I’d have to move him again.

Here’s the odd thing, every time I’d try to pick him up, Mr. Snake would bite a stalk of fern straw or something anchored to the ground and hold on for dear life.

I’ve never seen a snake do that before.