S-s-s-s-s-nakes!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am intensely afraid of snakes.  I don't just mildly dislike them; I am petrified of them.  Their long noodle bodies, their sick flickering tongues, and the way they eat make me want to gag.  I have been fortunate enough in my 33 years to have never encountered a wild snake.  My luck ran out.  In the past 2 weeks I have encountered not one, not two, but FIVE of these terrifying creatures in my yard or close to it.  A part of me wants to light my house on fire and run far away.  Another part of me realizes that even though I can't stand them, these creatures do have their place in the ecosystem and it isn't really my place to interfere.  I just wish they could be part of that ecosystem somewhere else...

I read this poem once and it has stuck with me:

I killed a spider

Not a murderous brown recluse

Nor even a black widow

And if the truth were told this

Was only a small

Sort of papery spider

Who should have fun

When I picked up the book

But she didn't

And she scared me

And I smashed her

I don't think

I'm allowed

To kill something

Because I am

Frightened

- Nikki Giovanni

And so, I guess these disgusting snakes and I are going to have to learn to get along with each other.  Thanks a lot, stupid poem.