Snake on the Porch

We have our little plastic pool on our front porch and it moves a lot due to the wind blowing. It makes some noise as it scrapes across the porch and the other night around 11 pm, Shawn went out to check and make sure it was still up on the porch. Shawn got the shock of his life when he went out to check on it. We have one of those folding chairs right next to the front door and sitting in it, with it's head and about a foot of it's body leaning out into space was a SNAKE! Before I go any further, I want to say thank you to God that Shawn was involved in this and not me. Had it been me, you would be going to my funeral. Anyway, it of course freaked him out and he ran back inside...but not to cower away, mind you! He got the camera. It warms my heart to know that 13 years of training is finally really paying off...he thinks to get the camera! After snapping a few pictures he then got a flashlight and a hoe and headed back to go to war with this disgusting creature. Unfortunately, by the time he got back outside....the snake was gone. FREAK OUT!!! I have a fear now of walking near any bushes around our house. I'm sure we'll never see the snake again but as Shawn keeps asking..."Why our porch? Why at the exact time that I was going out there?" Truly, we could have gone the rest of our lives believing that there were no snakes in Central Texas, and our life still would have been full and meaningful. FREAK OUT AGAIN! But, Shawn did say he believed that is was a rat snake which I guess is a positive, if I have to think positive. Also, from looking at the pictures, we can tell that the snake was over 5 ft long. I'm going to go breathe in a brown paper bag now and never let my children go outside again.

This picture just creaps me out all over again! He's disappearing...GET HIM quick!!!!