My Brother Didn’t Pull a Rabbit Out of a Hat…But This Made Him Wish He Did

IT WAS JUST ANOTHER DAY...

I visited my Mom over the weekend in Princeton on my usual Princeton trip, and we talked about the week's activities. Birthdays, sports, races, and of course, I always try to catch up on what my little brother is up to.

Sometimes I get lucky enough to see him when I'm visiting, but not this time. However, we talked about what he's been up to, and Mom told me that he'd been working on insulating his well for the winter, plus some other projects to make sure that his house is ready for the winter cold.

LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS...

He lives out in the country, so critters of all shapes and sizes are no surprise. Bear? Yes.  Deer? Yes. Coyotes? They always sound eerily close when you live on a farm. But this is something that I wouldn't have survived.

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After working all day checking his wiring, and placing insulation and styrofoam where it needed to be, he planned on taking a shower before heading to his son's place for a get-together. I don't blame him. Insulation can be a mess.

WOULDN'T YOU KNOW...

He stepped in the shower, and wouldn't you know. The water started to come out but suddenly went down to a drop. SOMETHING wasn't working. Meaning, he had to go back outside...back to the well...and tear apart everything he worked on for hours to figure out why he didn't have water.

He got dressed, headed out to the well, put his gloves on, and started pulling out all the pieces of insulation that he just spent placing so carefully, so he could check for anything that he missed. Of course, nothing ever comes out as easy as when you put it in, right? Most of the insulation and styrofoam came out without a problem, but one piece was stuck and so he tugged and tugged on it until he finally got it to come loose.

SURPRISE SURPRISE

Now keep in mind...he's digging in a not well-lit area.  After he feels the tug and the insulation finally comes up, he looks at his hand, and he's actually grabbed a snake, which proceeds to wrap around his arm and bite into his glove.

I can imagine it was sort of like the scene on Indiana Jones where Jones falls into the pit of snakes. He said that he was absolutely freaking out and caught off guard...shaking it and my guess, yelling and screaming until it was off of him.

Luckily, it was just a Garter Snake, and it was biting into his glove, not reaching his skin. In his text to me, he said, "Damn near killed me!! My heart hurt for a few seconds after that. Think I damn near blew a valve."

I certainly would have blown a valve.

WHERE DID IT GO?

I never did ask what happened to the snake after he shook it off, but I'd say he didn't stick around long enough to find out. He did, however, get the water working again, but that was the end of the night. Visiting will have to wait for another day. For now, he's got yet another gripping story to tell to his Grandkids.