My Heroes!

The kids and I were home by ourselves on Sunday....doing things around the house. I walked outside to get something and when I turned to come back in the house, there was a snake in the breezeway. I yelled for the kids to stay inside and I kept my eye on the snake. It slithered it's way into the cellar and I made a run for the kitchen door. Since hubby was with his buddy and they were supposed to be fishing, I figured I'd call the person I thought would get here the quickest, my brother-in-law! There was no answer at their house. So, I called my dad...he doesn't drive as fast as BIL but I figured he'd get here quicker than I could hunt down hubby. Their telephone line was busy. So, I tried hubby's friend's house. And they were there! They were just getting ready to go fishing but hadn't left yet! Thank you, God!! I told him about the snake...the kids and I had tried to identify it with our handy dandy Guide to West Virginia Snakes....and he promised to be right home. In the meantime, we kept an eye on the snake. It was all over the cellar...climbing up and over boxes, working its way up and across shelves and back down again. We wanted to know exactly where it was, so hubby could administer its demise. A time or two, the snake was brave enough to stick its little head out the door like it was going to make a run for it, but we shooed it back into the cellar until hubby could get there. Daughter was pacing back and forth and I thought she was going to hyperventilate. We knew Hubby was at least 25 minutes away. So, we tried to call Uncle again. We finally reached him and he promised to come right over. Yeah!!! So, now we're watching the driveway and watching the snake creepy crawl all over the cellar. Oh, and my Dear Son is wanting to be the Big Guy and go kill it himself while he's perched on top of the kitchen sink. :-) Hubby finally pulls in and we're so glad that Daddy's home! He just marches right into the cellar without a hoe or anything. We're trying to direct him to where we last saw the snake and telling him to get some kind of weapon. He grabs the mop! I'm thinking...what's he gonna do with a mop??? It's never inflicted the kind of pain I wanted that snake to endure. So, I told him where he could find the hoe. Before he can get the hoe, his fishing buddy pulls in the driveway. He comes marching up the hill with some kind of gun that has "birdshot" in it. Hubby is moving things around the cellar trying to find the snake. He sees it just as it's going down the basement drain and shoots! He's not sure if he got it or not. I WANT TO SEE A BODY! In the midst of all of this, Brother-in-law arrives weilding a sword! Yep, a sword!!! They fill him in on what's happened to this point and the three of them decide to flush the snake through the drain with the garden hose cause I WANT TO SEE A BODY! They put tons and tons of water down the drain and no snake. BIL advises them to pour a gallon of bleach down the drain to encourage him to come out (if he's still alive). So, they do that and we expectantly watch the end of the drain pipe. Still no snake. I know Hubby and his friend were wanting to go fishing and it's getting closer to dark. BIL had steaks on the grill when he got my call, so I'm sure he'd rather be home. But the guys...my heroes...perservere. They flush the pipe again with water and we wait. Daughter is watching the end of the pipe through the dining room window while the guys are checking out the cellar to make sure there are no more snakes. Suddenly, she yells that it's come out. Everyone (the menfolk) run outside, including Dear Son. He wants the honors of administering justice and grabs the hoe. After two whacks (he missed the first time), the bleach-soaked, bird-shot, traumatized snake is dead!! Yeah, my heroes! But that's not enough. Guys being guys...they have to investigate further. Hubby turns it around to see what it's belly looks like, his friend uses his Leatherman tool to open it's mouth to see inside and BIL stabs it with his sword to go throw it into the road. And when he leaves, he drives over it and then backs over it, and then spins his tires over it...just to make sure it's dead! He goes back home to his grilled dinner, Hubby, friend and sons head over to the fishing hole and Daughter and I breath a sigh of relief that we got to see the body!