Hello! Hey, it’s Me.

You might be a redneck if…

Last night our local news station reported a story about a possible king cobra in a town a bit south of us. This has sparked a bunch of discussion about snakes in the commenting forum. In reading these comments, I’ve been thinking “our” snakes (using that term very loosely). Many of these commenters are NC natives and, forgive the generalization, are “good ol’ boys.” Here they are talking about snake identification and shooting snakes with shotguns. So this led me to think of recent events in our household…

We live in the city limits, but we live in the woods (or the forrest, as Delaney calls it) close to water; a small creek runs through our property and there is a marsh just a few hundred yards behind our house. So while we have city streets, city garbage and pay city taxes, we live very close to “true country.”

On Saturday the kids and I were playing outside in the back yard. Delaney was around on the side of the patio near our little fish pond area. She and Zoey were intent, looking down at the ground. Finally she says, “Look Mommy! I found a snake!” So of course, I freak out! I look down to see a brown colored snake with a light belly raised up ready to strike! I herd the children and animal into the house and look for the camera, which, of course, I couldn’t find. Then I proceed to yell for the neighbor (Chris was out), who wasn’t home.

The young man across the street came over and confirmed that it was a red belly water snake and wanted to catch it and take it home. WHAT??!! Now granted, red belly water snakes aren’t poisonous, but they are mean, and a bite from one will still send you to the hospital. Luckily Chris was on his way home, so I just kept telling him, “Ask my husband” “My husband will be home soon.”

So Chris gets home, investigates the situation and confirms that it was a red belly water snake. We’ve had these snakes in our yard before, but they’ve always been the gray ones, not the brown ones. Anyhow, Chris and the kid from across the street spook it out of hiding, and Chris shoots it in the head with his shotgun, none the less. And then it bled all over the yard- yuck!

So you might be a redneck if your husband shoots an aggressive snake in your backyard with a shotgun.