Is that a black racer?

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned The Blonde in the house’s aversion to snakes as well as roaches.  When we lived in the part of The Villages north of El Camino Real, we had a pool and three times a black racer snuck his slivery way into the lanai area.  I assume that he wanted to take a dip.  Naturally, that was not to be permitted and he had to be forcefully removed – two of the times by yours truly wielding a broom.

Now we live almost down to 466a and have no pool.  Thus life should be pretty much snake free – or at least the hope in the breast of the distaff member of the house.

Now it so happens that last Friday, I had been playing golf almost up to Rt.42, and the group of us went to the Lopez pool eating area for a spot of lunch.

As I sat down I had this vibe that couples get after so many years.  It was a vibe that indicated trouble was afoot!  I picked up my phone that is smarter than me and called my beautiful Blonde.  To my relief she sounded fine, and then I heard a voice say in a shocked tone, “There is a black racer coming up the driveway.” She wanted to know, if it could go under the garage door.

I was properly noncommittal on that, but suggested that she look in the garage and if it stuck its head under the door to whack it with something.  When I did get home she was unharmed, and stated that she looked in the garage and then outside, but it had disappeared.  I believe that she is of the opinion that it was the same black racer and had traced us down to our present location.

I told her not to worry about it.  If it were the same black racer, it was most likely ticked off at me as I was the one who had pushed it out of the pool area with a push broom.  One would also have to take into consideration that he is not too swift as it took him over a year to find us.  He most likely is smarter than some snakes though.

When we lived in Deerfield Beach, FL, we had several of those snakes that look like coral snakes.  They have similar rings around their bodies.  There is a poem that you can recite that tells you the order of these rings so that you can tell if they are corals or not.  I can never recall how the poem goes so I still do not know what kind they were.  No matter which they were, they were not welcome.

They were easier to get rid of than the black racers as they were very helpful in their own demise.  For some reason, they liked to wait until the garage door was open, and then they would lie in the depression where the door came down and bask in the sun.  Usually, we did not even know they were there.  We would put the door down and – squish.  You have to wonder how Darwin’s theories apply to a snake that dumb.

You would think that after losing a few relatives, they would get wise and find some other place to sun.  Apparently, that depression was a fatal (ha!) attraction to them.

We lived there for over four years, and at a certain time of the year there would be more squished snakes.  The only thing I can figure is that we lived on a golf course, and they felt that the front of the house was safer than being in the back with all the golf hackers.

Finally, just so you know, The Blonde is not convinced that the black racer is not coiled up some place in our garage.  Not to worry though, we have an abundance of brooms!

Barry Evans is a resident of The Villages.