So, my nephew came over tonight to hang with the Middleschooler. I ordered a pizza and they were doing their thing (playing video games and being boys). Everything was under control. Then, the Middleschooler decided that he would go out to the chickens and show his cousin Barry the Rooster (he had to go out and put all of them up anyway). My sister and I were hanging out, drinking Diet Coke and laughing when both of the boys came screaming into the house something like, "THERE IS A SNAKE IN THE HENHOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (except make it really fast and barely intelligible because of the yelling). I looked at my sister, and said, "I guess I better take go take care of this." I hate snakes so, so much. SO MUCH. But my DH wasn't home, and someone had to deal with it. I asked my nephew what color the snake was (dealing with a black snake is a teeny bit different than dealing with a copperhead). He wasn't sure, so I grabbed the broom(?) and headed to the chickens with all the kids trailing behind me. The Middleschooler had gone into his room and grabbed his knife (a great thought, but I'm not getting that close to a snake). I opened the nesting box lid and looked inside. Sure enough, there was a 4 foot long black snake curled up all comfortable inside. Then I opened the side door so it would have a place to go, and poked it with the end of the broom. At first, it looked at me like, "Hey lady, watch it with the long stick." Then, I poked it again, and it slithered out of the henhouse and toward the back field. Gross. The kids were pretty chimed up, and I was a little giggly (that's what happens in times of stress for me). All I could think, walking back to the house was...
