Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today to tell you all about our scary visitor. You may remember me from such posts as “A Little Excitement”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose. 
It’s still 90 degrees or hotter every day, but we can sense that the weather is slowly changing, because it’s much cooler at night than it was a month ago. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking.
Things have been pretty quiet around here, although one day last week the guy I live with had to go to the hospital for an echocardiogram (everything is normal), and I had to stay home, while it was thundering. The guy I live with said it was typical that on the one day he had to go out, it would be thundering. There was even a tornado warning near the hospital, but in reality several miles to the northeast (way far away from me, at home).
But the next day…. That was something else entirely. Everything was going the way it usually does, when the guy I live with heard me barking “frantically” (I was really being tough and protective) out on the patio. He went out, and thought he heard a sound like a hose leaking, but the faucet wasn’t on.
There was a snake on the patio. And not a small one.
It was hissing. At me. The guy I live with said it was a bullsnake, and completely harmless. It hisses just to pretend it’s tough, which it really isn’t. Just like me.
The guy I live with chased me all over the back yard, trying to get me to come inside. He was afraid I might try to kill the snake, but the truth is that I was terrified of it.
He finally got the leash hooked to my collar, led me inside, and then got a broom to kind of tickle the snake so it would move.
It eventually moved. Into our garage. The guy I live with said it was….five feet long. (That’s 1.5 meters.) It was so big, he said he couldn’t get his hand around it.
So he explained that bullsnakes are very beneficial. I’ve seen dead rats on my walk; regular rats, and he said that bullsnakes would help greatly in reducing the rat population.
This wasn’t the first or second one I’ve seen, but it was the biggest, and the hissiest.
So that was last Friday. The guy I live with left the front garage door open slightly (there’s a second latch), so maybe our “guest” would depart. We haven’t seen it since.
We have been seeing owls. I guess they do the same think as the snake, but from the air.
The guy I live with took what I guess was an obligatory picture of part of the garden, at sunset.
He has been thinking that maybe he should water the garden a bit more. Some watering does take place, since it’s been so fearfully dry, but possibly not enough.
Salvia darcyi really responds to watering. (It wilts otherwise.)
Hummingbirds like this one, as you can tell.
The guy I live with said that a “monsoon garden” might be a nice thing; an area that gets extra water for plants native to that part of North America, especially ones that hummingbirds like. (The salvia is native to Galeana in Nuevo León; it gets about twice the rain we get at this time of year.)
The guy I live with got some dasylirions (D. leiophyllum and D. wheeleri) from a friend. These won’t be planted out until they get bigger.
There are some dasylirions in the garden here already (D. texanum), so these will be a little different.
Back to me and my walks. The guy I live with had been wondering why I kept wanting to go along the canal road on my evening walk, when usually we go along the coyote path behind all the houses.
Today he figured out why.
I wanted to go in the water. It looked clean, as you can see (it’s been muddy for a while now, because of rain in the mountains), so I got to go in. It was pretty nice.
I guess that’s all I have. You can tell that I lead a pretty exciting life, even though parts of it are just the same every day, which is the way we like it.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Jeepers, the sight of that snake would frighten the life out of me!
It was really big. I mean really, really big. The guy I live with thought about posting a picture of it, then decided not to. Same with Facebook.
I think I’ve seen one every summer. I saw one my first summer here; it was pretty big, too, but not big enough to swallow me.. It’s because of all the rodents around here.
Thank goodness we don’t have snakes here in Ireland!
They’re all over the garden here. Garter snakes, because we have mice. But the larger ones, like bullsnakes and yellow-bellied racers (see the post, Slithering in the bindweed) are infrequent visitors.
“I wanted to go in the water. It looked clean, as you can see (it’s been muddy for a while now, because of rain in the mountains), so I got to go in. It was pretty nice.” Do you get the leptospirosis vaccination? And, how has the goldfinch season been this year? Still feeding them?
I’m not sure if I get that vaccine. I get whatever my doctor says I should. I do get a bunch of shots every April.
We still see a few goldfinches here, but not a whole lot.
Gee, that sounds scary, even though it was harmless! I think that even a supposedly harmless snake is potentially harmful if it can cause someone to go into cardiac arrest! My colleague down south is afraid of all sorts of wildlife and even spiders. It is funny because he is a landscape designer, and works outside. He thinks that it is funny that I am afraid of clowns and children, but that is not funny at all! They really are scary!
I agree that kids can be scary. I don’t see very many of them, except on my walks, because ever since the pandemic started, neighbors have been walking on the street a lot more.
The guy I live with said we could be living in the jungle, with pythons or anacondas slithering all over the place, but that didn’t make me feel any better.
Pythons and anacondas are not nearly as scary as children or clowns.
I don’t know; I’ve never seen a clown. (Well, except for the one I live with.)
You are fortunate. They are much scarier than the one you live with, who actually seems to be quite nice and not scary.
I guess. I’ve never seen like a circus clown. Or a circus.
I have not seen one since I was a kid, but I get the impression that clowns are not as scary as they used to be.
I guess.
Wow, snakes, a storm and an ECG (glad to hear all is well). You have had a scary week. The snake going into your garage reminded me of an incident where a porcupine went into ours and jammed himself into a corner and refused to come out for a couple of days. Our dog and cats were not impressed at being ousted from their snug beds until the porcie left.
The guy I live with says thanks. I’ve never seen a porcupine, but I hear they live up in the mountains, which are not very far away from us.
The storm was an unusual one for us; we rarely have such things at this time of year, when it’s mostly just dry. We got hardly any rain, too. The guy I live with freaked out when the phone buzzed the tornado warning, because he forgot that the phone knows where he is. He thought it was at our house, for a minute. And that’s his big fear, that he’ll be away somewhere, and a tornado will come right at me while he’s away. I guess there are reasons for that, because it happened once, many years ago, when he was working.
I am wondering if TGYLW is still going to be leaving the back door wide open. Watering a bit more is a good idea, I think. Just a bit, so it’s not a huge chore. Perhaps you could help by shaking off after your swims?
I only got my feet wet, which is important for dogs.
I think the back door will still be left open. If a gigantic snake slithers in, I promised the guy I live with that I’ll be super tough and deadly, and chase the snake back outside. The guy I live with just laughed. I’m more afraid of huge snakes than he is.
The watering thing is kind of an issue. I guess if we watered more, then the guy I live with would be tempted to get a lot more plants that needed more water. That might be not so great, but on the other hand, we might be able to have more hummingbird plants at this time of year. We’ll see.
EEEEEKKKKKKKKKKK!!! A five foot long Bull Snake!!! Yore mee HERO fore barking an tryin to run THE Snake off….Guud Greef mee LadyMew iss 5 feet an 2 inchess tall….that snake was as long as her?!?!?!? **shudderss**
Mee wuud bee scared two.
Wee are still inn stew-pid heet wave with ucky hue-midity an no rain….LadyMew watered yesterday butt sum of THE garden iss too far gone an THE Dwarf Red Mapell iss lookin bad two.
Wee can only sit out inn evenin; far too hot durin THE day Mani!!
Wee ARE reeleeved Guy’ss ECG came back normal…when LadyMew went to EMERG last month shee had 2 ECG’ss dun. Both were normal…..so our Pawentss are guud to go rite Mani???
Bee safe an have fun!
**purrss** BellaDharma an kind reegardss LadyMew
Yes, I suppose they’re good to go, though the guy I live with has been having trouble with the strong smell from next door. I thought he was going to collapse from so much coughing, this morning.
It’s cooled off here, a little. The guy I live with went to the store and it sprinkled here for a few minutes.
The guy I live with’s wife was five feet two, also. She would have liked seeing the snake.
Poor Guy; hee soundss alot like mee LadyMew. “They” across THE hall are smokin Crystal Meth an LadyMew allmsot coffed up her lung earlier!Wee DUE feel badlee fore Guy!
Same here! It iss kewler an not so hue-mid. Once LadyMew getss laundry dun wee go out on patio….
Yore Guy’ss wife was same hite as LadyMew?? LadyMew likess Snakess butt shee not sure shee wuud want to meet a Snake as long as her inn reel life, mew mew mew…… 😉
I think his wife would have hesitated around this snake. It was really big. I was going to post a picture, but, you know …
It’s hot here again. The guy I live with left me alone to visit his friend, but it wasn’t roasting inside the house because all the curtains were drawn on the east side of the house.
HURRAH fore blackour drapess on East side of house Mani!
Wee have same here as wee face East two….
It getss too *Hot* without drapess inn Summer!
Yore Guy’s Lady was wise to avoid such B-I-G snakess!!! LadyMew likess snakess alot but not 5 feet werth of a snake, mew mew mew….
Hot again today. It’s going to be hot for most of next week.
Mee-yow wow Mani wee got vishuss Funderstormss Catiurday anite an last nite!!! an iss still *hot* out burr not as hue-mid….pawss crossed wee kewl off overnite!! !WHEW!!! This **heet** wave ahs lasted far too long! 😉
Wow! I’d be nervous to go into the garage for always now I think. I’m not afraid of snakes, if I know they are there, it’s the sudden fright of them appearing that gets me. Same with lizards. If I have snakes I don’t see them. Probably not any more, there isn’t an empty lot behind me full of vermin anymore.
You are one brave purebred border collie.
I agree; I’m pretty brave. I see garter snakes every day. In the garden or on my morning walk, especially near the canal. I think they like to go swimming sometimes.
The guy I live with goes into the garage all the time (that’s where the car is, which is unusual for this neighborhood), but he hasn’t seen or heard anything. I think the snake left.