Peeking Snakes and Slimy Salmanders

Chers Amis,

It is a warm Indian Summer day in Georgia and our house snake has reappeared. Here he is poking out of the siding on the back side of the house for a sun bath. We saw him last month poking out of the siding on the front of the house. Thus the name "House Snake". We will have to come up with a more creative name. I am not bothered by this little fellow as I am sure he will take care of any mice that might want to share the crawl space this winter. One year they decided to nest in my basement linen storage and I lost quite a bit of my quilting fabric. Now it is in a Rubbermaid bin and Snakey is on patrol. Sorry, mice.

It is so beautiful I think we are going to put the rest of our book work on hold and go for a walk around the property. We ate lunch out on the deck today and it will be all but impossible to corral the cats (kids) and bring them back to the table without the promise of future wiggles. The only thing that kept them from escaping during meal time was The Children's Homer. Pippin really loves it. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches- not so much. While I was clearing the table, Caddie jumped the gate from the deck and decided to lift up all our flagstones under the wild persimmon tree to see if what she could find. This is usually a good way to find an earth snake - small and cute. Today she found a large slimy salamander ( Plethodon glutinosus. He was especially sticky today and you could see the mucus exuding from his tail. Caddie was thrilled. Well, lunch is over, time for math and then a romp in the woods. Who knows what we will find. I'll keep you posted!

-- Marjorie