On Friday evening (10/10), we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house. (This means John's parents, as my parents are referred to as Tee Tee and Pee Pop.) The kids were quite excited to see them. We had dinner and dessert with them and then we introduced the kids to the old game of Mouse Trap. My kids loved it! The next day we had planned to take the kids fishing at the pond that is on Grandma and Grandpa's property. My father in law had warned me that he had seen cotton mouth snakes around the previous week when they were making sure the path to the pond was clear. He left the decision to go or not up to me, but let me know that he would be taking his .22 with him and he would shoot any snakes he saw. These types of snakes are native to the area, so it is not unusual for them to be out there, as there are fish in the pond. Anyhow, I was ok with it, so we set out after breakfast to fish. Grandpa caught some minnows in a trap for the boys to fish with, as the crickets that they normally use were hard to find that morning.
Within 5 minutes of casting out his line with a minnow on the end, Nathanael caught a small mouth bass. It was his first fish, and he was so excited!!
He decided he wanted to take it back and have it with his dinner. At this point, my mother in law needed to go back to the house for something and Hannah needed to use the potty, so all the women headed back. When we had almost arrived at the house, I heard the first gun shot. My mother in law said she'd take care of Hannah and I ran back to the guys. On the way, I heard another gun shot and there was a third just after I got there. My father in law (FIL) had spotted a cotton mouth, (also called a water moccasin) only three feet away from where my Micah was fishing!! Thankfully, my son obeyed immediately and without question when Grandpa told him to put down his rod and come get behind him. He showed Micah where the snake was and then killed the snake. After it was dead, he fished it out and showed it to us. These snakes are venomous, so seeing how close it was to my baby boy was a little scary. We decided we had had enough excitement for one morning, so we headed back to the house. Grandpa said we could try again later in the afternoon when the fish were more likely to be out, if it was ok with me. I figured the odds of seeing another cotton mouth were probably pretty low, so I said ok. Nathanael really wanted to eat his fish, so Granpda showed him how to clean it, and Grandma said she'd cook it up with dinner. He later said he didn't realize cleaning the fish was going to be so yucky.
Here is how close that snake was to Micah. The dead snake is seen in the photo. He had been cleverly camouflaged where the orange dot is, under that tree branch. I have also noted where Micah was sitting.
We headed back out to the pond in the later afternoon/early evening. None of the boys wanted to sit in the spot where the snake had been spotted, but I finally convinced Luke to sit there. Not long after we got there, my MIL decided to head back to the house to work on dinner and she took Hannah with her. I stayed with Luke and kept watch, while my FIL watched over Micah and Nathanael. Unfortunately, the fish just weren't biting and after awhile, Grandpa said we better head back before it started to get dark. When we got back to the house, Nathanael headed over to the spot on the back porch where he had been told to place his fishing pole and reached out to lay it against the wall. Immediately, I saw him freeze and then step backwards. He yelled out, "SNAKE!!!"" My FIl said he didn't even believe him at first, because they haven't had a snake like that at the house in years. They have a lot of land and the house is a good distance away from where the pond is. He came to check anyhow and quickly saw that there was indeed snake. In fact, it was another cotton mouth! It had been hiding in the spot where they were to put their fishing poles. It reared up at Nathanael and was looking right at him while slighty moving left and right. My FIL said it was only about four inches away from Nathanael. I believe with all my heart that it is only by the grace of God that that snake did not strike my son. When you reach towards a snake and are that close to its' face, I don't think it's normal for it not to strike you. These snakes are highly venomous, and it could have done major damage and possibly even killed him. My in laws are over 30 minutes away from a hospital. Grandpa yelled for Grandma to turn the porch light on and come help and told Nathanael and the boys to get away. I had been in the back of our party as we headed to the back door and I had not yet reached the back porch. I did not see the snake when Nathanael did. But with the commotion and the lights coming on, the snake retreated back behind a large object (I think it was an old, large dog kennel) that was on the porch. From where I was, I could see him once he was back there. MIL came out and we sent the kids into the house via the front door. FIL told her to go grab shovel. He couldn't shoot this snake because it was on concrete and a bullet could have ricocheted off the concrete and hit one of us. So his plan was to climb up the front of the kennel and try to spear the snake (which was coiled up behind the kennel). However, he knew it would be unwise to peek over and see where the snake was. He could wind up getting bitten in the face if he did that. So instead he got the shovel ready and told me to tell him when the shovel was over the snake. That was pretty scary. If my judgement was off, would he get bit? I told him when to go for it, and thankfully he got the snake just below the head. But he wasn't able to kill it like that. This snake turned out to be pretty large, and it was trying to fight. **My FIL had been having really bad back pain that week. Having to hold himself in an awkward position while fighting this snake was causing him a great deal of pain.** My MIL actually had to get a second shovel and saw the thing's head off with that while FIL held the snake down and I held up the flashlight. It was quite an event. But she was able to detach the head from the body and we all breathed a sigh of relief. **Can I believe my children popped their heads out the back door in the middle of all this to argue about someone taking someone else's toy away???? They definitely heard about that from me later.** This snake turned out to be 44 inches long. It was the largest one my FIL had seen in a long time. John said he never had a close encounter with one of those snakes while living at home. We are wondering if part of the reason the snake had come up to the house, was because he had smelled the fish remains from when Nathanael and FIL had gutted the fish earlier. The trash can with those remains was still sitting out on the porch at the time this all happened. But why was he close enough to smell that? It was odd for him to be that close to the house. They usually like to stay near the water. Whatever the reason, I am extremely thankful for the hand of God that would not let that snake bite my son. The trip that had started out so well could have gone downhill very quickly that night. Thank you to everyone who was praying for our safety during our trip! Your prayers were heard and felt!
