Nor do snakes...
Yes, ma'am... the horrors continue. As if wasps and spiders were not enough of a test, look who arrived at our back door steps yesterday morning.
Not your run-of-the-mill garden variety rat snake here.... No....
For this week of Courage Testing we provide only the best in venomous snakes.
Meet a really ticked off water mocassin stuck in a yard full of cats and peacocks.
(Hey, Mr. Scary Snake, I didn't invite you here, so don't give me the evil eye!)
P.S. I was taking these pictures from the top of the porch deck with my zoom lens. Mom would have been hypervenilating about it, but I felt very safe up high.
Of course, I also took this picture...
He's right there at the bottom of the picture.
Way too close to our back porch if you ask me...
or the peacocks...
No one was happy about this evil intruder, least of all me!
I am convinced that I surely must be living in a House of Horrors, or rather a Farmstead of Horrors (doesn't have quite the same ring as House of Horrors, sticking with the dramatic because I'm feeling just a little edgy today!) And this House of Horrors has about done me all in...
But for Courage, I wouldn't be here to write this post. Well, actually I still could be writing this post from somewhere in Cancun on a nice, sunny beach (they don't have venomous snakes on beaches do they?), but it wouldn't be quite as horrifying if I was recounting the story from a comfy beach chair holding a fruity drink with a tiny umbrella in it.
Instead I am wearing appropriate Snake-Battle Gear, carrying Snake-Killing Weapons...
Rather attractive Snake-Battle Gear in a "back-woods meets Aquarius" kind of way. And I think I struck just the right pose... nonchalant but confident. (Of which I was feeling neither. Did you suspect?)
Crickey... How did I end up here in these psychedelic boots holding a shovel contemplating a battle to the death with the most scary of evil lurkers?
Don't answer that...Let me just pretend I am courageous for a moment...
Breathe in... Breathe out... Steady, Aim and De-Capitate...
Honestly, someone needs to invent Black Flag for Snakes. Hello? Wouldn't it be like way better to be standing 29 feet away from the scary snake when you decide to take it out?!
My legs are wobbly, but my aim was right on... Evil has been Dis-patched this day and all is Safe again in our little corner of Paradise...
Who knew that Courage would be demanded of me twice in one week?
T.S. Eliot once said that...
"Only those who risk going too far
can possibly find out how far one can go."
And I doubt he was thinking of venomous snakes or wobbly legs, but it is true. Courage is a risk. Sometimes life requires that we reach deep down and find out just how far we can go...
This Happy Goat Herder just found out...with relief and gratitude anew for His Ever Protecting Hand.
May your day be blessed with the Grace-Breathing Courage of a Mighty God...He will take you farther than you dare to dream...
Love Always,
Jane
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