It was late in the evening when I came home from work (after spending the evening with a team). Ben also had a late night as well and hadn't had time to begin round 2 of the painting project that we started what seems like months ago. The lights were dim and we were about to retreat upstairs for some R & R in our big comfy bed, when out of the corner of my eye I spoted some strange movement on the other side of the room. After a second look the notion came into my mind that it must be a worm - it had been a very rainy day and that seemed to make the most sense to me. I clicked on the nearest light and just about had a heart attack. It wasn't a worm at all - it was a snake. A real, live snake in my house.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! We've been in Guatemala for about a year now and have not had even 1 encounter with snakes (not even in the jungle of Tikal) so how the #$%& did one get in my living room??? To add to the horror that there was a snake in the house, this uninvited visitor was stuck - literally stuck- to the masking tape that we had put up to protect our basebords during the painting project. Thank goodness for the masking tape. I don't even want to think about where it could have hidden if that tape wasn't there to stop it! Shrieking at the top of my lungs for Juan Luis (our "tenant" that was staying with us) to come down and help Ben get rid of it, I cowered on the stairs, as far away as I could possibly get from it. After donning some work gloves that I handily had stored in the mess of paint supplies, Ben went in for the kill (his first thought was to try to remove it, but I demanded that it die) with our trusty ax (purchased for protection on the drive to Guatemala). I couldn't watch, but he hacked it good, because afterwards it thrashed on the floor for a few minutes before shrivling up to die in a pool of it's own blood. Disgusting, I know.
Now what on Earth were we going to do with it? Ben wanted to put it in the trash on the patio, but I just knew that it was going to revive and grow a new hind end (heck yea I paid attention in science class), so I accepted his offer to at least take it out to the curb for trash pick up day. And that blood.....Ugh, I don't even know how it got cleaned up - I couldn't stick around for that. I was safely cowering in the middle of our king size bed, where no critters could reach me.
I honestly had just gotten to the point of living in our house that I could semi-comfortable walk around without shoes on (when absolutely necessary). I'm phobic like that. I even still shower with flip-flops on after 5 months of cleaning the shower weekly. How will I ever feel comfortable in my home again, knowing that an intruder can enter so easily. The crazy thing is that we live in a cul-de-sack surrounded by homes - not open space. Where did it come from? And does it have a family & friends lingering nearby? Ugh! I shudder just thinking about it.
And the icing on the cake came a few days later when I came into work to find this on my desk chair.
Funny, right? After I collected and calmed myself, it was slightly funny I suppose. Just a little reminder from my team - I'll never be able to look at a snake without thinking of them from here on out!
Thanks guys!
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