Long Overdue

Finally - - a long overdue blog update!  When I attempted to do some work on Thursday evening, my laptop was completely dead; it wouldn't even turn on when I plugged it into the docking station.  Thankfully I was scheduled for a PTO day Friday, so an immediate crisis was averted.  I simply sent a note to IT to have a replacement laptop ready for me on Monday morning, and I interpreted the computer malfunction as a way to force me to have an enjoyable, relatively work-free (dang iPhone) long weekend.

My sister Terri and her family were in-town visiting from Milwaukee, so we had three full days of non-stop activity including: swimming, mini-golf, dying Easter eggs, dinner at Wildfish, an Easter egg hunt followed by brunch at Roaring Fork, a trip to the Botanical Gardens for its Chihuly exhibit...This doesn't even capture the full gamut of activities; it was clearly a very fun and busy long weekend.  I expected the dying of Easter eggs or Easter egg hunt would be the most memorable event of the weekend, but surprisingly those activities paled in comparison to the excitement of an unexpected visit from the Scottsdale Fire Department on Saturday afternoon.

On Saturday, Alexa and her cousin Mara were playing in the backyard, so I decided to employ some child labor tactics and asked them to clean up the grapefruits and lemons that had fallen from our trees, selling it was prep work for the Easter Bunny's upcoming visit.  After they had nearly filled a plastic grocery bag, I grabbed it and walked along the side of our house to toss it in the garbage can.  On the way, I happened to look to my left and saw part of a very large snake peeking out of the rocks.  I can handle snakes way better than rodents, but nevertheless, I yelled, "Snake!" and sprinted towards the back door, gathering the kids and Alstott along the way.

We've had a rattlesnake by our front door before, but I could not tell the type of snake from the portions peeking out from the rocks.  I looked up the Scottsdale resources for snake removal, but the herpetology group listed was closed, so I resorted to Plan B and called the fire department's non-emergency number.  The operator said she'd send a firefighter to the house within about 10 minutes, so the kids hovered by the windows in Ani's room to keep a visual on the snake per the operator's request.  I told Terri that I assumed one or two firefighters would come in one of the department's SUV's to pick up the snake.  Now I know why you should never assume....

As I moved the trash cans from the side of the house, I heard the rumble of a fire truck entering our community and turned around to see five firefighters jumping out of the huge truck.  How embarassing!  I was glad that none of our neighbors were outside; we would have been all of the talk of our small community.  I greeted the crew (no, I had not primped & prepped for their arrival) and walked them to the spot to show them the snake, as the kids pressed their faces against Ani's screen to take in all of the action.  One of the firefighters took a look at the snake, identifying it as a bull snake - whew!  The next thing I knew, he was reaching down with a gloved hand to pull the snake out of the rocks.  I had been pretty calm and cool up until that point, but the firefighter kept pulling and pulling and pulling; the snake was gigantic - at least five feet long (no joke!).  The sheer size of the snake sent me shrieking away from the scene, and I ran towards the front gate like a total girl.

Before I knew it, the whole gang was out in the backyard, and the kids were petting the snake while Alstott endeared himself to the firefighters (when they found out he was named after Mike Alstott, the football player, they loved him even more).  One of the firefighters heaved the snake into the ways behind our house, and they headed back to their truck.  The guys were very nice, giving stickers and plastic firehats to the kiddos...and me.  To make sure I was thoroughly embarrassed, they were sure to turn on the lights and sirens as they pulled away.

Later that afternoon, I went through the garage and was heading into the backyard, when I saw a snake tail peeking out from underneath on of the garbage cans.  I uttered a few four-letter words; I could not believe it...two snakes in one day (thankfully this one was much smaller than the first).  Thankfully the firefighters had told me how to identify rattlesnakes from a bull snake, so I was able to know that this was another bull snake and avoid a second call to the fire department.  Now that would have been embarrassing.....

Our Hovey family "Easter selfie" at the Botanical Gardens....as taken by Alexa.
(Ani is in the Baby Bjorn strapped to me).