The Roediger House is situated at the edge of Winston-Salem's central business district, and it is surrounded by offices and parking lots. The only wildlife that frolics here in abundance is birds, followed closely by squirrels and chipmunks. Sure, every once in a while there will be a possum. What I've never seen in fourteen years here is a snake...until this past Thursday.
Say hello to this black rat snake, which I caught out of the corner of my eye while outside doing some yard work.
My presence caused him to retreat up into that non-functioning drainpipe in the rear wall. I had to wait him out, even heating up and then eating my leftovers for lunch outside, until he emerged again.
Unfortunately, his target was the abode of my beloved chipmunks on the incline just beyond the rear property line, and that's unacceptable. So this mostly harmless black snake is now no more.
At the house in which I grew up in Buies Creek, it was my mother's policy that all snakes would earn the same fate, whether a threat or harmless. When Dr. Swiers, the neighbor across the street, reminded Mother that the black snake was the farmer's friend, her quick retort was, "I'm not a farmer."
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