Two strange occurrences

Last Friday we were outside playing in the backyard, and after we went inside, Boomer started barking strangely in the side yard outside the dining room window. I peeked out and saw him flipping a snake up in the air. Disgusting! I could tell that it was a small snake, however the thought of a snake in the back yard, no matter how small, was a little more than I could take. So I put Emerson on the couch with some books and went outside to assess the situation. I got about two steps into the grass and realized I probably should've put shoes on, but I didn't want to delay the task at hand, so I forged on. I walked around the side of the house (all the while scanning the ground ahead of me in case the injured snake had escaped from the crazed Jack Russell and was on a path to attack me). Oh, I forgot to mention that I had picked up the back yard shovel on my way, so at least I was armed. When I got to the crime scene, Boomer looked at me as if to say, 'Go ahead, lady. Just try & take this snake away from me.' So I had to use the shovel to physically push the dog aside, and he was barking and growling and baring his teeth. What a nice, family-friendly pet. So now I decided to take a look at the snake, and the poor guy was barely clinging to life. The front half of him was still while the back half was doing a slow rumba. Or it was a little more like a snake wave. Click HERE for a demo. Why, thank you, Hip Hop Dance Master. That was educational! Okay, back to my story. Out of care & concern for that poor animal, I took my shovel and gingerly tapped on his head. It was one of those strange situations in which I didn't want to feel his snake brains squishing out but also wanted to make sure the stinkin' thing was DEAD. After being quite sure he had passed on to snake heaven, I picked him up with the shovel and laid him on the back patio so I could get a snapshot of him. Let's all take a moment of silence for Mr. Snake who unfortunately spent his last moments on this earth as a playtoy for my dog.

Another interesting thing happened last week. I discovered an apple-biter had struck the apples in the basket on the counter. Taking special note of the bite marks and distance between each bite, I hypothesized it to be a rather small member of the species homo sapiens, perhaps one about 23 months old and somewhat ornery. Just last night, Jason and I observed suspected human actually climbing on the stool and taking a bite of another apple, saying, "MMMMMMM!" Busted!!!