MARGARET

Margaret - it's a lovely name, is it not?

A few posts back I told you about our resident basement snake. Please see the prior post for a picture of this lovely creature. (Honestly, I shiver when the topic of snakes comes up.)

However, our resident snake still resides in the basement. We have not been able to capture her and every now and then, Dave forgets when he is in the basement and whoa! There is our little striped snakey.

Because of my distaste for any kind of creature that slithers, I have decided to face my fear head on. I have decided that if this snake was going to become part of our life for a while, I should try to learn to live with it. How so, you say?

I gave her a name. Her name is Margaret. A very unassuming, lovely, kind and gentle name. (Did you notice I also gave her a gender, female, of course, for the gentle gender.) I know this sounds terribly foolish, but since I have named our resident, Margaret, she has lost some of her fierceness for me and Dave and I now discuss her presence and call her by her name.

"Yes, dear, Margaret is still in the basement."

"Yes dear, I found more indication of Margaret in the basement."

"No dear, I have not yet found any little Margarets in the basement."

"No dear, I don't believe Margaret can climb stairs."

I am getting so that I am interested in the life of Margaret. Is she getting enough to eat? Will she become an albino snake if she never sees sunlight again? I find I worry about her like I would a small child.