Monday morning of this week, I woke up early, about 5:45 am. The dogs needed to go out, so I let them out, shut the door and laid back down. I must have dozed off for about 15 minutes, but when I got back up, the dogs weren't around. Usually they come right back to the back door after doing their business and bark until I let them back in. I heard them barking, but the sound was faint and coming from the back part of our property.
It was still a little dark when I headed out in my pajamas to find out if they had gotten in with the rabbits again. As I walked past the blackberry bushes, I noticed them barking and lunging at something in my strawberry patch. I have covered our strawberry patch and the blackberries in bird netting to keep the birds out. As I got close enough to focus on what they were after, I realized that there was a snake tangled up in the bird netting!
It was a BIG SNAKE!
I ran back in the house, grabbed the camera and woke Quinton up to come deal with the creep who slithered into my garden and woke us all up. At first glance I thought it was a rattle snake, but it turns out it was a Texas Rat Snake. Luckily they aren't poisonous. It still creeps me out just thinking about it!
(Quinton is 6′ 3″ tall)
No, no, heck no!