My New Little Friend

Today I was doing some laundry outside.  I finally got this great new drying rack and I was hanging some clothes up to dry in the sunshine today.  (I SO miss the sunshine in the winter!)  To my left, by the fence, I noticed something moving.  He stopped, I stopped and we just stared at each other for awhile.  "Hey, Little Guy!" and then he was gone under the fence.  Evan saw him last year when he was mowing, and I've seen the hole in the ground that is his home, but I've never seen him around.

Two loads of laundry and room for a third!  I love this thing!

I kept hanging more clothes when he caught my eye again, slithering back under the fence.  He seemed to be a little confused that I was there and he wanted to get around me, but wasn't sure how.  I continued to talk to him, which drew Abby's attention and soon she was more interested in my new little friend than I was.  You would *think* that he would get out of there as fast as he could when he saw a true predator, but he just kind of kept staring at me, with his little head up.  Luckily, Abby wasn't a true predator because she would have had him in her jaws if she hadn't been more interested in watching him slither.  At this point I thought, "Stupid snake!"  but really, "Stupid dog" would probably have been more appropriate.  He finally DID go back under the fence, away from the dog, but before I was done, he was back.

My Little Friend

He's a Garter Snakes because he looks like a garter--see his stripe?

Abby--clearly a hunting dog. 

I love seeing nature around my house like this.  I know that most people don't but to me, it's a little bit of giving back to the animals we took the land from.  Before we started building homes, this was HIS neighborhood.  I learned in Animal Ecology at Ohio University that the animals we see most frequently are "edge" animals, those that live on the outside edges of forests and natural habitats.  These animals, deer, squirrels, raccoons, chipmunks, and yes, garter snakes, are those animals that have adapted to living WITH us, even though we've destroyed what used to be their natural habitat.  Places like the Nature Center that Caden and I visited Tuesday, look like natural habitats, but they're still all pretty much edge.  There are more animals there than in my yard, but it's still too close to man to be really natural.  It makes me sad that wildlife is becoming homeless, but at the same time I really wish they'd build a Trader Joe's close to me.  I think that's what appeals to me so much with this urban homesteading, (growing our veggies, getting chickens) I like the idea of living off the land, while still being within a short drive of everything I've become accustomed to--like the Drive-In and Target.  

So thanks, Little Guy, for giving me a glimpse into the wild this afternoon while I was standing in my backyard, which is usually only wild when my kids are in it.