Blog I don’t like snakes

Photo by Dean Scholten on Unsplash

I really don’t like snakes. I really didn’t like that starting several years ago, at least once each season, one would find its way into the house. Every time proved to be a unique experience. I never wished to repeat any of those experiences.

Somewhere along the line, I found out snakes hate salt. It stings their skin. I tried it out the back door one year. There is a fissure between the house and the sidewalk. I knew snakes hid down that crack. I poured salt all along that fissure. The snakes slithered out in both directions as fast as they could. After that, I used salt in front of our doorways and any place that I thought they might even try to enter.

(I also learned salt is a problem for pesky insects. The salt becomes more effective when mixed with Borax and pepper. Then without adding deadly sprays to your house, a simple mixture in the right places depletes the house of many creatures you didn’t invite inside and do not want dwelling in your house.)

This year the day before Mother’s Day, I got a post from my daughter. She asked if I’d received her flowers. I said, “not yet.”

Then I went outside to check if something had been left. A box leaned against the house. My flowers! Curled around the box was, you guessed it, a snake. When I screamed for Keith, the snake slithered off into the grass.

While Keith picked up the box, opened it, and prepared the flowers for display on the table, I grabbed the salt. There is now a wide white band of it across the front door. Next, I duplicated that salt band outside the kitchen door leading to the garage. I do not want a snake in my house. Not this year. Not ever.

The red roses are beautiful, and I look up from my laptop to take in the sight of them on the dining room table. I am enjoying my flowers. I only wish I also didn’t flashback to a box at the front door greeting me with a 15-inch snake. At least it wasn’t poisonous. At least it crawled away not toward me and the open door. I appreciate the flowers and am grateful that, so far, there is no snake in the house.

© 2022 Carolyn R Scheidies

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