SURPRISE!

Maybe a month or so ago, Carissa and I came home from cheerleading practice, and since all of the lights are off, I turned on the kitchen light. I then proceeded into my bedroom, where the kitchen light was now projecting a faint amount of light. Just enough light for me to see that the cats were both very occupied with something! I chased them away from whatever it was (I still couldn't see it), and stepped over the unknown object to turn on the light in the bedroom. As I was in midstep it dawned on me that it was a snake! Now, I'm not generally afraid of snakes as Steve has 3 of them. But a wild snake of unknown poisonousness makes me nervous. After the light was on and I confirmed that it was, in fact, a very pissed-off snake, I ushered the cats out of the room. I yelled for Carissa to bring me a tupperware thing to put over it. What does my child bring me? A sandwich sized one! After yelling and possibly throwing the container, she brought me one that was much bigger. I contained the baby snake, that by now was striking at the tupperware container. Of course, this makes me think it's a rattler. I called Steve, who was at the pottery studio. I told him I had it contained, and he said he'd be home soon. Then I needed to watch the little guy and wonder what type of snake he was. Steve had some experience with pygmy rattlers, and he would know if it was one. I also thought it might be a harmless corn snake, as we had found one on the patio the year before. This one was much less colorful than that one, however. And the internet was down. But then I started to worry that the snake would sufficate under the tupperware. So I kept tilting the container up so air could come in. I did this as carefully as possible, so as not to let said snake out! Then I decided it would be much easier to release the snake if there was something hard under the snake. So I slid a metal cookie sheet under the container. The cold surface made the snake sluggish, and I again felt bad for him. So I got the hair dryer and would keep warming up the tray for him. However, the warmth reminded him that he was mad and he would start striking again. So I decided to leave him alone until Steve got home. When Steve finally arrived home, he wasn't sure if it was a corn snake or a pygmy rattler either. After noting that he was impressed with my decision to put the cookie sheet under the snake, he took the snake outside and threw him into our neighbor's yard (they keep a VERY bright light on all night that shines in our bedroom). Problem solved. The next day at work I looked him up online. I really think he was just a corn snake. =)