Ssssssomething interesting happened the other day....

We recently took a trip to Charleston--that was a blast. We were blessed with the most amazing weather, and enjoyed our "second honeymoon" to the hilt. This was the "real" trip to celebrate our 25th anniversary--a few weeks late due to Randy's schedule, but the little visit to Pine Knob Inn allowed us to start the celebration on our actual anniversary. It's Feb. 10th if anyone wants to send a card next year. LOL

On the way, we made a little side trip to visit some good friends. Clarence and Shirley Mathis served as missionaries in Honduras for several years, and we developed a close friendship during that time. They played tour guides/hosts during the two missionary trips I took there, and Randy and I have enjoyed having them stay with us on their visits to the States. They're back stateside full time now, and settled down next door to Shirley's daughter Carol, about an hour outside of Charleston.

More about the time in Charleston later, right now I want to tell you about what happened while we were visiting with Clarence and Shirley. I was diddybopping along in the woods (diddybopping is hillybilly for walking along without a care in the world, just in case you didn't know.) taking photos of pine cones and such when I nearly tripped on this HUGE snake, and I mean huge. Did I mention he was huge?

He coiled himself around my legs, started squeezing, and nearly ate my camera. I was so scared! But there was no way I was going to file that insurance claim, I grabbed my camera out of his fangs and quickly turned on the flash and started firing away. The light from the flash blinded him, and it was enough to allow me to escape, but just barely! I got myself back to the house where I belonged. Right after snapping a couple of shots to share with everyone. Whew! Gotta love that new Nikon! Takes a "lickin'" and keeps on clickin'.

OK, maybe that's not exactly how it happened, but it could have..... Alright, I see the way you're looking at me, enough already. Here's the real story. His name is Bubba, and he belongs to Carol. I must say, sometimes I do things that surprise even me. And sometimes Randy surprises me as well...even after all these years. Bubba is 14 feet long, and weighs about 110 lbs. He's a little underweight right now, it being the end of winter and all, can you imagine that! I can't relate, but it sounds nice to need to put on a few pounds. I can give him plenty of advice on how to do that.

I've never touched a snake before, much less one this size. I was really shocked that he's smooth to the touch, kinda like patent leather. I expected a snake to feel scaly and rough, and kinda creepy. You know, snakey.

Carol has a few more veeerrry interesting pets, many are rescues from her career as a vet tech. Her collection includes two wolves, two buffalo, a raccoon, a lynx, and there's also a few more normal critters hanging around. You know, like horses, dogs, cats and fish. Me, I just have Randy, and I have a hard time just keeping up with his care and feeding.