Do you have any wild animals coming into your yard ?

Oh yes, the snake 'people'. I call them that because my weenie girl (the dachshund) stands at the end of the porch step, drops her head, her little ears drop down cute, and she stands there and talks to them under the house. I don't know what she says, I have to assume it's "you stay down there", "we are out here now" and things like that. They know the word snake, so I talk about them like I do other things with them. Except for one time, another story, they don't engage them. I tell them don't engage a snake or skunk, and they really do seem to know what I'm talking about. In fact, I KNOW they do, I am hoping on their instincts to help them avoid them. I know, it only takes that one time with the wrong one, but I just won't go to that emotional place and keep myself paranoid.

When one is out, we just avoid it. There is a delicate balance with snakes. It does take a special energy of what you put out, fear, or other negative things don't feel good are going to make it worse. I have learned how to live with the balance of having them around. No, I still don't really like them, but there is more respect and less fear. I do always look for that rattle tail or other signs of what they are but I'm not paranoid. I do have to live.

We go to another part of the yard, or in the house. The other night, one was eating a frog, the frog half way out enough for me to see it was a large frog. I was in another part of the house, but I could tell it was the big guy's snake bark. There also is a type of urgency to it that is different than when they are saying human is here, human is here. I went out and saw that, and fortunately, it was not near enough to the door that I said LEAVE it to him and told him to come in, to come in.

Years ago hubby said he had seen rattlers and copper heads here. But I haven't. WHEW. We have the non poisonous kind have coloring that melts into whatever they are on/near. So that is usually tree bark. We have yellow gold leaves in parts of the yard year round, so they can also be a mixture of that. I always have an eye out for the snake people.

I can always tell when the dogs have encountered a snake. There is a certain bark, a certain body action that is different than a reaction to any other critter.