Snakes In A Flower Pot

My mom posted this picture on Facebook the other day.  This snake was discovered in her flower pot and she was terrified.

What she put on Facebook and what REALLY happened (as discussed on the phone later) will show you how important it is to share stories, no matter how difficult it becomes.

1.  THE SNAKE IS REAL  and it is a rattlesnake.  Mom went outside to water the garden and saw it in this flowerpot.  She totally.  freaked.  out. (her words).

2.  THE PICTURE IS NOT because my mom wasn't stupid and didn't just whip out the phone while the snake quietly wound around her little plant.  She call my dad outside and he went to the shed, go a hoe, and promptly killed the snake.  Not being in a generation that really thinks "I have to post this" with every interesting moment in life, they got the snake out of the pot, dug a little hole in the back yard and buried the thing (so the dogs wouldn't get it).

Well, about an hour later (according to mom) she really wished she had taken a picture of it.  Now, though, it's little head was disconnected from it's large body and it was taking it's final sleep in the back yard (probably somewhere close to where our spaniel was buried.

Mom, knowing she could not miss an opportunity to share her brush with death, she went out to the back yard.  She DUG UP THE SNAKE.

But then she did something that only a mom would do. . .

She WASHED THE SNAKE IN THE KITCHEN SINK SO IT WOULD NOT BE DIRTY FOR THE PICTURE.

She then gently placed it back in the pot and arranged it carefully so as not to expose the disconnected head and neck.

She then took the pictures.

Of course, after that, she had to go back outside and re-bury the snake.

After some research, they identified the snake and learned there was no anti-venom within 500 miles of their home.  So, if mom wants to wash the dead snake so she can pose it for a picture, it's better than trying to take a picture of it while it is alive and could bite.