Plumbers, Snakes, and Kids

Baby Garter Snake, photo courtesy of Bing 

Our kitchen sink has had some drainage issues for the past little while.  My dear DH pulled out his hand cranked plumbing snake to try and clean out the drain, but even though he cranked it down as far as it would go, it could not reach the problem.  So a couple of our kids made arrangements to have a plumber come and try his hand at cleaning out the drain.  This monring he came in with his huge electric snake and went to work, and within 30 minutes he had cleaned out the buildup on the pipes and removed some tree roots that were blocking the drain.  Hooray!  Our kitchen sink and dishwasher will now work properly.  This is a happy day!  Thank you kids!

**  Sorry if you were expecting some exciting story about the slithering kind of snakes and our kids.  But maybe I can share a story of that kind.  Depending on the kind of weather we are having, we sometimes find snakes living in various places in our back yard . . . amongst the berry bushes or under the sidewalk for example.  Not too long after we moved into this house,  some of the kids and a neighbor child or two were playing in the basement playroom.  The neighbor reached for what they thought was a play rubber or pastic snake, but I started slithering away!  It was a very real baby garter snake. Of course there were plenty of screams and excitement.  We don't know how it got in the house, and I don't remember how we got it out of the house, but I assure you it is no longer here.

Another day the children were hanging out upstairs in the living room when another larger snake slithered its way down the side of our brick fireplace from where it had been resting along the the top of the bricks right under the mantle piece.  Again, I don't remember how we got the snake back outside, but I assure you it is no longer here.  We do think that this snake found its way inside through an open living room window.  (We don't have screens on those windows unfortunately. 

Anyway,  I appreciate the wonderful invention of plumbing snakes.  I also appreciate God's creation of snakes, but I also appreciate not having them inside of my house.  Which reminds me of a story I read a few years ago about a home that had been built on top of a snake den.  Now that would not be a fun story at all.