The Returne of Wyld Kingdome...Part 1

Spelling the title this way makes it look so... literary.

OK... Friday, I was pulling weeds (which as irony would have it weren't actually weeds, but fescue that had sprouted in our flowerbeds as the result of over-zealous seeding on SOMEONE's part) in the space between the driveway and the courtyard fence. The soil was so rich that it took little effort at all to dislodge the grass clumps and toss them into the pile. About the only effort I had to expend was walking back to the pile as I moved further away from it.

For whatever reason, my loving husband, Jimmy, is of the let-everything-compost-where-it-falls-in-Autumn school, so the leaves on the natural areas are a bit... thick. [Please note: this is not a complaint, this time. Just a detail that relates to Close Encounter #1.] Remember that Friday was in the mid-upper 80's. It was sunny. It was warm, but not hot. It was a gorgeous day for digging and sunning. And weeding.

I had gotten about halfway from the courtyard gate to the front sidewalk, yanked out a gigantic clump-o-fescue, and walked back to the weed pile and tossed the clump which hit with a mighty thud. At the same time, I heard a rustling in the accumulation of leaves against the corner of the house, about 3' away from the gate. I looked in the direction of the sound and there it was, some little black slithery thing trying to play peek-a-boo through a 3/4" hole in the the leaves.

It's a garden. There's a snake. I love God's Word. I hate the snake. I am a female. It's biblical.

[Aside: I changed my FB status to reflect the encounter, and JS made a comment that left me laughing hysterically.]

So... ewww...

I figured I'd just leave it alone and it'd go home. Unless, of course, our courtyard is its home. Nahhhh...