Okay. I'll try to be happy. Snakes are probably better than mice. However, a squirrel is a rodent, and I don't like squirrels, and I don't see any decrease the their numbers, which means the snake does not bother the squirrels.
Then Erik asked where the snake's nest is. I showed him the place right near my front step where the snake slips up between the concrete and the siding. He said, "Yes, I see another snake skin here."
So. Does that mean my snake has shed his skin twice? Or does it mean more than one snake? Of course, there's no way to tell how long that other snake skin has been there.
If you're thinking all this is kind of like a nightmare, you are right.
Erik and Daniel suggested that when I see the snake out, I should get that spot calked up. Easy for them to say. And here's what I thought:
- I do not stand around waiting to see the snake.
- If I did, he wouldn't come out.
- I don't do calking.
Just then my neighbor Pam came over. I told her about the snake and what Erik had said. He smiled. She said, "We have a lot of snakes. They come up from the canal back there. My husband loves the snakes. He protects them." Erik looked happy. He had been validated.
Then my neighbor said, "I fed the raccoons over the weekend."
I said, "What? How?" And, of course, why? But I didn't say it.
"We were gone all weekend," she said, "and we took Dash with us [their dog]. I left his little place open. There was food in there. When we got home we found things tipped over and all the food gone."
Swell. So now the raccoons have been fed and encouraged, and they don't need any encouragement. I'd better keep an eye out for them again.
And this means that while a dog may scare a raccoon, if it's big enough --at least that's what I heard-- obviously the scent of dog doesn't. Ron, my neighbor across the street, says, "I told her [Michelle, the new neighbor] to keep her dog inside because a raccoon will kill that little dog. Any dog isn't safe because a dog will stick its nose right in and the raccoon will scratch its eyes out."
That is scary and leads me to ask, "What kind of a place is this? It also leads me to think it might be a good thing if the raccoons were here when the phantom dog poops on my lawn. But then I'd have a real mess to clean up.
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