Oh Honey. DH has a tractor with a bucket on it. We had a king snake that went from the top of the bucket to the ground in length! It was the biggest thing we had ever seen! :eek:

:D AHEM!!!! + we have one of Britain's largest vineyards about 8 miles from us.....;) :D Sally + Harry x

It's adder, I think. Arent they poisonous?

I would def have left the room and probably the school for the duration.

Oh, yes. That would have ended my trash days for good. Done. Over. History.

ha ha... you guys would never make it in south florida:eek: and it never gets cold enough here to kill anything!!!!

We have multiple varieties of snakes around here and some are a good size. Black snakes, too. Snakes are good rodent killers. Much like cats, snakes are after the same kind of prey usually. The smaller garter snakes kill a lot of bugs (centipedes included). I would never kill a non poisonous snake. We are in their territory. They are useful in their own way although not very pretty.

The beautiful Cheetah and other prey cats kill some beautiful creatures but most of us would not want to kill one of them because they are beautiful. In nature creatures have their assignments. I draw the line at my backdoor. No bugs, no snakes, no racoons, no foxes or any of the other wildlife comes inside. I close my door and leave them all to do their thing at night and then avoid their areas during the day. I try not to interfere with their lives and they don't bother me. When Gracie and I have encountered a few small snakes on our walks we just wait for them to pass and move on. No big deal. After all they do eat centipedes!

I would much rather have rodents than a snake about, scarfing them down! Thankfully we haven't had even a mouse here for over 15 years or more. And we have no bugs or roaches in about the same time either. After a heavy rain for a day or two, once a year or so, might have a water bug walk across the floor but whatever Yorkie I have or I get to it before it can go far. I have seen 2 small long skinny bugs about 1/2" long in the bathroom this spring. I have never used an exterminator in my life. We're very blessed to have neighbors that don't have a lot of animals and keep shrubbery at a minimum, yards clean and clean homes, etc., & I guess that helps. We don't even have crickets anymore. I had a neighbor that had 4 GSD's back years ago(built a wooden fence to secrete the 4th one from the city inspectors) and she got COPD, couldn't clean well after that, had a garden room choked with plants of all kind, overgrown shrubs outside and we had roaches, my Jilly had fleas occasionally during her years next door but I just put out roachy - bait things & flea treatment for Jilly and kept them gone here. But once that lady left years and years back, no buggies or fleas since. So I don't need snakes at all! They can stay elsewhere where they are needed. I know I could never live in Florida or Arizona or places where there are a lot of big bugs, rats and snakes unless I was into big-time drinking - like a lot. Like a large glass of liquor for lunch and dinner. I might could take it then but scream & jump & run a lot when the alcohol wore off. Who needs a liver when there are creepies all around you!

I live in a large wooded wilderness that extends for miles over most of the mountain that I live on the side of so we are surrounded by a wide variety of wildlife. My backyard edges on those woods. I am living in the area where these creatures live so we live and let live. If these things bothered me as much as it does people like yourself I would never live here. The only issue has been with the domestic cat and dog problem. People bring the pets they have tired of out here to dump them. Usually can make friends with the dogs pretty quickly and find new homes for them but it's much more difficult dealing with the cats. Oh, the ticks were an awful problem, too. Otherwise, the wildlife leaves us alone and we leave them alone.

For a city-slicker, tenderfoot Texan such as I am, it is the best! I'll bet that is sad to see those poor unwanted animals a lot and heartbreaking to deal with. But for someone who loves the woods and snow and the outdoors, your place sounds ideal and lovely. I would love to see a winter picture of that landscape! My brother would love to live where you are! He's such an outdoorsman. He lives in Albuquerque and he and his family are in Colorado in the mountains camping out and skiing as often as possible. They camp for a week at a time sometimes. He loves snow. They lived in Colorado Springs for 6 years but that was too much snow & cold for them for daily life so they moved back to NM. I love to visit them and go to Colorado with them and love snow at resorts and such. We used to ski in Aspen and Oregon and Wash. state. But mostly I'm a city girl at heart.

I'm not much of a photographer. One of my kids takes most of my pictures for me He's got all the fancy equipment) but the fresh fallen snow on the trees is always beautiful. Maybe we can get some shots of it this year. It's the sizing thing that just drives me nuts as far as posting pictures and I swear that Gracie always knows when I'm about to try to snap a picture of her because she always looks away at just the second I push the button.
While new fallen snow is always beautiful the ice and constant cold can get really tired by mid February. Spring can never arrive soon enough! Further north from here in NYS many towns had downed power lines for weeks at a time from ice storms. Glad we missed that. It seems like the weather situations are becoming more and more destructive the past few years. North and south both have their weather issues to deal with.

Woods in snow to me is one of the prettiest things ever! When I was a kid we used to live only a couple of blocks from a lovely woods that went on forever and if it ever did snow, we would hightail it to that woods and its long creek to crunch around while we could, take pictures & explore endlessly. I hope you will get some good pix next time it snows & post them or some you already have. I'd love to see them and dream. My dad loved the outdoors and when my parents built their dreamhouse, he purposely picked a place near a big wooded area. I think my brother lived there when he wasn't home or in school! So get those pictures if you can and share with us Southwesterners and Southerners who rarely see such things, please please please. :)

I have no clue??? :eek::eek: I hope to never see one again!

Aaaaack! :eek: I have only seen those in science museums, lol. You have had more than your fair share of critters! Keep the toad, though. I love toads.