This is our fourth year in our house, since I bought it in January 2020. When we moved in, Son saw a brown snake near the door to the backyard. It disappeared quickly. Then I saw a white one at the foot of the apple tree . I went running to Son (thankfully he was at home). He killed it, worrying all the time that he has killed a harmless snake, and he shouldn’t have done it. After a spate of three years, suddenly I have seen three this week, two reddish, brown ones in the front yard, and a black one at the back.
All these snakes have been more than twelve inches. Since I’m the one who does the gardening, I’m scared to no end. The snakes have taken away my joy of gardening. Everything is a mess, since I have been away from home for longer periods.
The temperature here in Houston never went to freezing, but for the last three years it does. My plants dies, and now every year, I have to start again. Last year I collected seeds of my flowering plants. I put them in a bag in an unused, small bucket in the garage. This week when I wanted to use them, they were nowhere in sight. Son must have disposed the bag without bothering to look inside.
One of the snakes was between two empty pots. I was trying to take out one from the other. They were wedged so tightly. To disjoin them I put them between my two feet, trying to pull them apart. I shrieked when out jumped a snake.
Same thing happened at the back. I had forgotten the earlier scare I had been through. I was taking out a smaller pot from a large one, when a black snake dropped at my feet. I’m now so afraid of touching the pots. Some of them have to be emptied, and filled with new soil.
I wonder why there are snakes now in our front, and backyard? I feel miserable!
Flowers and Breezes 