The Good, Bad & Ugly Birdhouse Story

THE GOOD

As I mentioned in an earlier post, 

spring sprung and the Bradford Pears 
in our backyard were gorgeous!

A bird built her nest in a birdhouse 

attached to the second tree 

from this end in the above photo.

Here's the birdhouse.

If you enlarge the pic below, 

you can see the cute little Mama inside.
She's watching me!

Here's a glimpse of the pastel blue eggs.
Four of these beauties were nestled within.

The bird house is mounted at eye level allowing me to watch the Mama bird come and go each day. I peeked in on the eggs when Mama wasn't around just for fun. I was very much looking forward to the arrival of her little fledglings!

At dusk, I often walked 

outside with our little man Chewy. 

Mama bird always kept a

 watchful eye on us as we passed. 

She was always ready to 

fly out and away 

so I kept my distance.

THE BAD AND UGLY

After about 10 days of observing, 

I looked out the bedroom window 

and saw this horrifying view!

UGH!

   A snake in the birdhouse!

Very bad!

In a panic and ticked off, 

I ran to the door and headed outside.

My mind was racing!

Thought #1: 

What do I do?!

Answer:

Get it out!!!

Thought #2

How do I get it out?!

Before I couldn't answer thought #2 though, 

I was promptly bombarded by 

Thought #3 

Take a pic for FB and the blog!

After all, it was the 

easiest, 

and

quickest 

thing to do!

Darting back into the house, 

I grabbed the nearby iPad 

and completed that task.

Oh, but now it was time to actually deal with thought #2.

My mind was still on the run, yet devoid of solutions although I was pretty sure of several facts:

1) It was probably a bull/rat snake because they climb;

2) We've had them in the yard before so that made it even more likely; and 

3) Rat snakes are not poisonous.

It's still a big, ugly snake though!

On the heels of the above analysis, 

I did what any frantic woman would do:  

I swiftly grabbed the iPad and

face-timed my sister Linda!

Linda's first words: 

Oh no!!!!

Can you get it out of there?

Gee, wish I'd have thought of that.  

My mind was jumping around 

but mostly stuck on:

How?

How?

How?

I looked to the right and, 

laying over near the side of the house, 

there just so happened to be a long piece of 

PVC pipe 

with a hook thingy 

(a detailed technical term) 

on the end of it. 

PVC with Hook Thingy

I threw Linda down to go for it.

NOT REALLY.

I informed her of my plan 

and, gently but quickly, 

placed her hard little iPad body 

on a soft chair.

As I was about to go retrieve the 

PVC with Hook Thingy, 

the serpent, 

with his neck 

(if they have one), 

kinked like a hose 

and still in the birdhouse, 

had turned his head completely around.

  

About five feet away, 

he was very still, 

and staring me, 

right square in the eye! 

(I'm pretty sure it was my right eye.)

Yikes!

Ever been eyeball to eyeball with a snake?

It seemed evil, 

was super creepy,

and made my blood run cold! 

With support from Linda, I ran to the PVC with Hook Thingy, grabbed it, and returned in no time, yet he was already sliding his ugly butt up the tree!  

Even though he was out of the birdhouse and it was probably too late, I was not happy and wanted to yank him down while I could still reach him. 

After one lunge and poke, 

I changed my mind because:

1) A snake's body is rock hard making it difficult to maneuver or kill, especially with a long, not too sturdy, PVC with Hook Thingy. 

How do I know?

See #2.

2) Memories of the time I went all Lizzy Borden on a snake with a post hole digger came flooding back. It took at least 40 very wild whacks to kill that hard, slithering sucker. It was an awful experience! 

You can view that post here.

Please note:

I 

WILL NEVER 

undertake a snake killin' again.

3) I was also reminded of the time we drove 13 miles to Home Depot, and when Geo opened the car door, there was a rat snake standing vertically in the crack of the door.  

You can view that post here.

4) After not-so-fondly reminiscing about the above, it occurred to me that if I did indeed succeed in yanking him out of the tree, he could accidentally... 

Land right on my head! 

NOPE!

That's not happening!

That thought gives me 

The Willies!

Mission aborted.

After he slinked his way up the tree, I was a bit scared to look into the birdhouse for the eggs. I had to get right up under the tree to do it, and the snake was up there which means directly above my head. 

Linda said, 

"Let me look."

So I did.

Holding the iPad up to the birdhouse hole so Linda could look in, I stood as far back as I could and stretched out my arms so that the iPad camera was at the hole and guess what? 

It worked!

I did not like the outcome 

though and neither did Linda! 

All four eggs were gone!

VERY SAD & DISTURBING!

If there is any good news it is that the snake didn't get the Mama because I saw her going into the birdhouse later so she was out and about. Poor thing, losing her babies like that!

Sometimes, I don't like nature!

Not Smiling,

D~~~~