Kudzu, sorry about my previous post, I had had a couple glasses of wine and was feeling pretty brave, (just show the snake the door, lol). I do know how you feel though, it's such a shock to come up upon one in the house and you can't shake the feeling thinking it might still be there. Especially with little ones around. You know those 3 tier hanging mesh baskets you use for potatoes and onions- in a different house (yes, close to the water) I came into the kitchen one day to find one hanging off of it, another time one was under the kitchen counter. Another place (yes, close to the water) was bad for moccasins, big ones. The barn had a concrete floor and they liked to come stretch out along the corners. Had to be real careful moving things. I've had a little ringneck in the bathroom at this house, so far that's all, though. You've got me snakey just thinking about it, now. Anyway I hope you find your snake, or don't find your snake, lol, whichever is better. And don't forget to take a picture like Patti did! Now there's a brave soul.

Just back from discovering the local nursery has it's rose field open. There was a guy that was giving the staff a hard time, demanding that he needed a 15g Don Juan on a trellis. The idea that they grow and train the roses themselves and did not register. He kept saying "Well call some one up and order one". They told him several times "there is no one to order that rose from, we grow the ones you see here and we would have to pay more than we could sell it for if we found one, but we can start you one for next season" . (they have a large lot and have many roses that are rather old or unusual from the box store selections (like a 60" standard Renae) That was one unhappy customer!

Venomous snakes have a triangular shaped head (from ears to nose) and non venomous snakes have a more rounded (or spoon shaped) head. Your construction snake looks like a black king snake. They eat rats. They are your friends. We had one living in a tree hole next to our porta potty during construction. Black king snake, non venomous, rounded head: Timber rattlesnake, venomous, triangular head: Rattlesnake that got in my way (54", 9 rattles). My sister told me how to skin it. My DH would not even touch it. He's hanging in the den now (the snake, not DH...although.... ;) ) Really ticks me off when he kills the non venomous snakes in our yard. We have a large garter snake living near our front veranda. He is eating my frogs, which is bothering me, but I told DH not to kill him. 15yo boy down the street shot/killed a 13 rattlers snake taller than he is a few weeks ago.

You absolutely did the right thing. SS is eight, and he does not always put the seat up first, especially in early morning. This is completely understandable as he's a little boy who "has to go" - but, then he has to clean it up. I'm still hesitant to let him near any serious cleaning chemicals at his age (I have a fear that he'll forget and mix bleach and ammonia!) but there's no reason a child even younger than he is cannot at least wipe off a seat or floor. (Sorry because this is even more gross.) Last year I woke up one weekend and SS was in his room preparing to clean up vomit where he'd thrown up that morning; he told me that "Daddy said I had to clean it up myself". Well, I had no idea what lesson DH was hoping to impart from that, but since that was completely unlike DH's normal behavior I figured something must have happened to cause DH to say this (SS adamantly refused to go into the bathroom when feeling ill, maybe?) Anyway, I wasn't going to overrule DH's authority on this, even if I didn't understand why he'd done it and it seemed really harsh to me, so I told SS I would stay with him for moral support and encouragement while he cleaned it up. He did, we went downstairs - apparently DH was feeling really queasy himself that AM and what he had actually said to SS was that he, DH, was not going to be able to clean it at that time or he'd, erm, make the mess worse. Poor SS understood that to mean that he was to clean it up. LOL! He was very proud of himself though - "it's the first time I cleaned up puke!"