I grew up in the country so I am no stranger to outdoor critters. But this year there is obviously something weird going on. Everywhere I go I am finding snakes. I have seen more snakes this summer than I have seen in the last 10 years. That might not be a problem were it not for my level of affection for snakes as demonstrated here or here.

Today, as I was walking around my house, I saw something move next to me in the grass. I looked down to find this:

The cagey-looking thing is my husband’s minnow trap. The rubbery-looking thing at the bottom is a snake, a decidedly unhappy snake, that decided to visit the inside of said minnow trap. (Sorry about the photo – couldn’t convince the camera I wanted to focus on the snake and not the trap. To further complicate photography, the snake wouldn’t stop moving.)

I cannot imagine what possessed the snake to go into the minnow trap. It was empty – at least it was last time I looked. But Mr. Creepy Crawly is not happy to be in there. He has rattled his tail and hissed at me and tried to hide on the inside of the trap. The fun part is that the stupid trap only opens in the middle with a hard to open closure. It will have to be picked up and held with both hands to open it. This is a good thing if you have minnows inside. But not so much with a snake inside. How on earth am I going to get an angry and scared snake out of that silly trap without one of us hurting the other? This might be a job for Super Hubby.

Snakes, why did it have to be snakes.