[stonyloam]

Ladybug update: We have sliding glass doors in the sunroom (you can see where this is going already). This morning was the nicest in about two weeks, so I was expecting to see snakes (at least indoors if not out). Saw a couple of heads sticking out, but nothing much going on, so I went out to clean the leaves off of the pool cover. After about an hour I came in (through the sliding glass door) being very careful and looking for ladybug (the first time I saw her she was wedged into a space near the doorjamb). OK no snake, so as I started to close the door all of a sudden I saw tiny brown rings moving along inside the door track between the door and the aluminum guide awwwww S%$#!!! Then she disappeared under the door! OK the door is half open and I can’t close it for fear of cutting her in half with the guide wheels (then I would have to make up some story for James, like uhhh “she ran away”). I decide to take the door off to get her out, so got the electric drill and started to remove the half dozen screws that hold the upper door guide in place. Got them all out and tried to remove the door gently—gently WHAT THE……It won’t move! Seems like over the years the upper frame had warped slightly and the top of the door had worn a groove in the frame holding it in place. In order to remove it I had to close it about a foot. So I very slowly started to close the door and after moving it about a foot, guess what? The snake came out. Great, so I started to reach down for her and the door fell out and I had to catch it. What now, I couldn’t move the door back because she was there. Finally I tapped my foot behind her and she moved, jammed the door back in place and caught her. Way too exciting! She was not happy! You know that web of skin between you thumb and finger, well she latched on pretty good. You wouldn’t think a bite from a snake that small could hurt. Think again! Finally got to look at her tail. She does have a small wound and some unshed skin. She can shake it pretty good (milk snakes shake their tails like a rattler, pretty intimidating) so I think it will be OK. I got my tweezers and cleaned it up a little, then decided any more would do more harm than good. So I just put a little Neosporin on it and am temporarily housing her in a 15 gal aquarium we keep for rescuing tadpoles off of the pool cover, (another story). Tried to feed her, but that turns out to be another kinda funny story I’ll tell you about in my next post. When the weather gets a little better I will probably relocate her to the woodpile, so I won’t have to worry about the door. With her attitude she should be just fine. Kind of a long story but it is all true I swear.