Recent revelation

This is the second part of the rumination post from yesterday. I was honestly going to post them together, but the second tidbit really isn't a result of any ruminating on my part. And I loved that title. There's just something about the word ruminate.

The second tidbit is one that I've heard many times in my life and one that I really try to embrace: Never make assumptions; go with what you know. The problem is, this can be tricky to embody. Sometimes you think you know something when in fact all you really had was a glorified assumption. Or maybe that's really just misinformation. Or worse yet, ignorance. I'm sticking firmly to the assumption label, though, because I really was feeling wiser on my birthday and that made me feel peaceful. I need to stretch the peaceful times as long as humanly possible.

So you're probably wondering about my erroneous assumption? Well, I assumed (and remember, to assume is to make an ASS out of U and ME) that when a critter hibernates it stays in hibernation until spring. Hibernation, in the world according to me, is a function of time and not temperature. Unfortunately the world according to me is sadly limited to the confines of this little blog. My definition of hibernation was probably formed as much by watching Yogi the Bear cartoons as a child as it was by actual science. So I assumed that I would encounter no snakes on Sunday as I happily trekked through the woods on a sunny 72 degree day. I even joked with one of my children about the fact that the snakes were sleeping.

My oldest daughter had been lagging a few steps behind the three adults. The rest of the herd had taken a shortcut. I knew what her scream meant the minute it passed her lips. That scream crosses languages and cultures; it's the international sound for SNAKE!

Apparently, one of the three of us had stepped on the snake before Rachel saw it (let's not dwell on that, okay). Greenie was a bit off his game and allowed me to pick him up with a stick. I know, I know, just a tad out of character, but I needed to diffuse the situation so as not to impart my fear of snakes upon my daughter. Fortunately, Dad had his phone and was able to snap a quick picture. It's a Rough Green Snake -- non-venomous and very docile.

The good news is that the snake didn't make it's appearance until we were almost home. I kinda lost my enthusiasm for hiking after that. The bad news is we found the little guy about 100 yards from the house. Shudder.

Never assume you are safe from snakes.