Excitement and pickling

I was in the living room and heard Dana cry out. She was outside so I knew immediately what it was. A snake. She is terrified of them. I respect them and am careful but actually have a lot of sympathy. They keep the crickets and frogs and mice under control. Or would, if we let them.

I'll save you from a picture but it turned out to be a Plain-bellied watersnake Nerodia erythrogaster. Not poisonous, not aggressive. Reddit has a sub that helps ID the snakes with a bunch of people who are helpful.

This guy was taking care of our frog issue. He was about 2 feet long and I was able to scoop him up with a shovel and put him in a five gallon paint bucket. I took him up the road to some woods and tossed him out. Were it not for Dana I'd have kept him around to take care of us. While in the bucket he rose up like he was going to bite me. I had leather gloves on so was not worried and saw he had no teeth and definitely no fangs.

We had tarantulas at our last house. Dana was not afraid of them and we left them alone. They also clean up bugs.

Texas is fun.

It rained a lot last night but we got in an hour of pickleball during a lull. I needed the movement. Next play for me is Friday morning.