26 April 2021
I probably cannot begin to fathom just how lame my cat thinks I am. Tichelle brought a garter snake into the house today. A beautiful specimen it was, maybe about eighteen inches or so. I noticed her hunkered in an odd place, so I walked in on the tableau. She and the snake were faced off; I presume she had captured it outside and brought it in to show it off. They scattered when I blundered in and it hid out under the refrigerator while Tiche kept watch.
I wasn’t about to drag a snake out from under a refrigerator, so I was partially resigned to having to haul it out later to recover a stinking corpse, but nevertheless went about my business and left the cat and reptile to go about theirs. I am fond of both species, generally, so I wouldn’t wish ill on either.
210426 – Feline Antics
Dear Missus Axis: My first impulse, again, was to call you about it. Tichelle brought a garter snake into the house. It is presently hiding out under the refrigerator. I wanted to call you and share the laughs and trauma, and maybe the day’s events, but again, I am stalled by the thought that I’ll say something stupid or honest again and then we’d have to spend some quality time nursing injuries.
And now, about an hour or so later: I want to call you back and tell you I rescued the snake. It and Tiche were facing off in the kitchen when I walked back in. The cat went one way and the snake the other, but I threw my vest over one and chased the other outside. Went back and managed to coax it (was a garter snake, but sizable enough for a painful bite, and I didn’t want to risk overreacting and injuring it further) onto a sheet of cardboard and got it about halfway to the door when it crawled off, but I still managed to herd it to the front (the cat had gone out back.) I praised and apologized to Tichelle already, but I still feel very good about rescuing a fellow vertebrate from possible severe trauma, and tried to inflict as little as possible myself in the doing thereof. Meanwhile, Tichelle continues to glare at me and insists that I feed her outside.