snake... Snake... SNAKE!!!

I find that some of my best posts
Are about the insanity
That Africa throws at me

Generally in the form
Of some sort of bug

One thing
That I had definitely
Been happy about
Was the fact
That I had never encountered
A snake...
At least
Not one on one...

However,
I have been resigned
For some months now
To the fact
That this record
Wasn’t gonna stand

Living out here
More on the outskirts
Of Kitgum

On a farm
Pretty much sooner
Or later
(Which I was for)
I was gonna run across one

And now
It has happened

Twice actually...

Sorry,
Like I said in my first post
I have been remiss
In updating...

Regardless
It is actually
A good thing

Because I have found
That oddly
My thought process
In finding a snake
Is always
The same...

So first
I will let you in
On the process
I go through mentally

Then I will give you
The specifics...

I don’t know
If you will find it
As amusing as I do
(Sorry Mom)

But every time
I think about it
I crack up...

So mentally
When I see a snake
I find I go through
Three separate stages...

snake... Snake... SNAKE!

Let me explain

Stage One : snake

This is the stage
Of recognition...

“What is that thing...”
I begin to
Observe characteristics...

I.E....

It is black...

It has a hooded head

It is slithering

Then comprehension

“Huh, oh, it is a snake”

Stage Two: Snake

Next comes the stage
Of understanding

“Wait a minute...
That is dangerous...
Snake = Poisonous”

It is in stage two
That I will verbally say
“Snake”

Just once
Very calmly...
When comprehension
Of danger
Strikes
(Pun intended)
: D

Stage Three: SNAKE

This is when
My mind starts racing
I start yelling at the kids
Like a mad woman

“SNAKE SNAKE SNAKE
Get OFF the ground
And up on the wall!!!”

Once I have all the kids
Off the ground
And safe,
This is also the stage
Where I run
And get
“The mighty snake slayers”

Who are cleverly disguised
As our workers...

Who all just get excited
And come to kill it...

Wow...

So...
Now you know
What goes through my mind

It is time
To hear
The stories
Of the actual “encounters”

Encounter One

The other day
I was walking
Toward the hut
Where we keep our solar
To get my computer

When I saw it
Peeking up
Over the step at me

Begin the mental process
(See Three Stage process)

Yep
It was
A stinkin’ cobra!

And it was reared up
And hissing at me!

HOLY-MOLEY

Fortunately
I saw it
Before I got very close
I was still
About 5 feet away from it

So
Having gone through
Stages 1,2 & 3
Others are coming to assist
In the form of
Two of our staff ladies
And Therese
Came to get that sucker
And kill him good!

Unfortunately
The snake wasn't co-operating
And...

It turned around
And went back into the room

And I was the only one
Who had seen it...

So there we are
Looking in the room for it
And all we could find
Were frogs

Let me tell you what
I was starting to worry
I had imagined the whole thing

Also, I was worried
If we couldn’t find it
I was never gonna be able to go
In that room again
For fear it was gonna take
A bite out of my leg!

Praise the Lord
We finally found it

And it almost
Bit poor Catherine...
Who promptly screamed
Dropped her stick
And ran...
Followed closely
By Margaret and Therese

Even better
Therese had a lamp in her hand
Which had a rather long cord
And at one point
We all thought
The snake was chasing us

Great was out relief
When we realized
It was only...
The cord :)

I tell ya
Sometimes
You gotta laugh
Or you will cry

So having surmised
That it was not gonna just
Sit still
Long enough
For us to beat it to death
With sticks

We did what any
Self respecting woman does...

And we called the men :D

So they all
Gladly stopped their work
And came running

Now we have
Six rather large men
With equally large
Sticks, rakes and shovels
Inside a rather small hut
Trying to kill this
Extremely
Angry
Snake...

The kids
Are all up on the walls
Of the crafting hut
Wishing they could see

And all the women
(myself included)
Are peering into the window
Yelling advice
And reminding the men
To be cautious...

Why is it
In times of danger
People always feel it necessary
To tell those taking a risk
Really obvious things...

I found myself saying things like
“Be careful”
and
“Don’t get bit”

Good thing I was there
They might not have known
That those were things
They needed to keep in mind

Right :)

Anyway
Long and the short
Of it
They got him...

Smashed his head
And he was
Removed

Yikes...
I joke you not
The guys were pounding
Each other on the back
And congratulating
One another...

Yep
Some things
Are universal
:D

This snake was about
2 ½ ft long
Which to me
Might as well
Have been a mile
It seemed so big!

However
Crisis...
AVERTED

Humans 1
Snakes 0

Encounter Two

This happened
Just yesterday actually

There we were
All sitting in
The crafting hut
Minding our own business

When I
(Who was sitting on the wall)
Heard something strange...

So I turned around
To figure out what it was
That I was hearing

Repeat Three Stages
In mental snake process
Here...

So I am sitting
On the low wall
Of the crafting hut

Which has
No door
And the snake
Is right under me
Heading straight for
The door opening...

Oh
My
Gosh!

Praise the Lord
Zooey
Our German Shepherd
Is laying across the opening
So it stopped the snake
From coming in

(As a side note
I don’t believe in
Coincident... Or chance
Even though I didn’t know
That snake was gonna come
God did           
And He placed angel in its path
In the form
Of a rather large
Loveable
German Shepherd)

So the snake was stopped
At the door
Stood up (like they do)
Hood out
And hissed...

Thankfully
Zooey didn’t get bitten
And she scared the snake enough
That it turned around
And started slithering away

So while Ryan tried to kill it
I ran and got the staff
Who all very calmly
Ate another bite of their lunch

Then got up
And came
Gathering
Rocks, Sticks and Bamboo
With which they intended
To slay the snake

Unfortunately
We have quite a bit
Of random sacks, containers
Along with
Various other things
In that area right now
Because of all the crop harvesting
We have been doing
So it took them again
A bit to find the snake
Which had gone into hiding

Finally, Santa shook out a sack
And out plopped the snake
At the feet
Of Zippy (our dog)

Once again
It didn’t bite her

The snake was more concerned
At getting away

But with about nine Acholi’s
Out to kill it
That WASN’T gonna happen

The kids were all
Really excited
To be able to see this snake
From the safety
Of the wall in the crafting hut

So
The snake is cornered
The pounding begins
And very quickly
It is dead

Yikes

Another crisis...
AVERTED!

Humans 2
Snakes 0

So
What have we learned from all this

#1 Keep all the doors closed
And
#2 If you see a snake... Run

We are also
Going to do
“Snake drills”
For the kids ;)
To improve
Their response time
In case another
“Snake situation”
Happens

They are so excited!

Please continue to keep all of us
In your prayers

As when dry season starts up
In a few months
The snakes increase
And we have 11 children
Running around

God is good
And as I tell the kids
Every time we talk about snakes

We may not know where they are
But He does
And He is our protector!

Blessings :)
Bri