Farm Quiz Answer

Answer to last posting's Farm Quiz question: What did Grandma have in her shovel?
a. Rattler
b. Lead rope
c. Arvid
d. Cobra

If you answered c. Arvid, then you were right! Arvid was a three foot long bull snake that visited us over several days. Each time we encountered him we had a heart attack because he was so big, and he looked like a rattlesnake.

Here he is by the pond the first time I saw him. I had a heart attack then I noticed he was a bull snake.

I watched him slither into a corner and coil up into a more protected position. He's a little hard to see but he was there!
I decided to leave him alone and carry on with my life. Later in the evening we heard the dogs barking. It began with Grandma's dogs and spread to our house where all of our dogs joined in with lots of enthusiasm. We went out on the porch and saw Grandma trying to keep all of the dogs away from the "rattler."

Bill grabbed the .22 and ran to help. On close inspection, he saw it was a large bull snake. What a relief! So Grandma carefully relocated the bull snake with her shovel to the shelter of some sumac bushes. The next day when Grandma came out of her house, there was the big bull snake stretched out on her sidewalk. She, of course, had another heart attack. When she recovered, she decided he was turning into a resident of the farm and deserved a proper name. Later at dinner that night, Grandpa suggested "Billy." We all reminded Grandpa we already have Billy Batly, our resident porch bat, that actually showed up with a wife this year, but that's another story. Billy kind of sounds like Bill's name so I wondered out loud about a name connected to Grandpa? Actually how about Grandpa's middle name Arvid? Well, it stuck.
I'm sorry to report that Arvid and the Batlys have all made other arrangements for the fall. Arvid no doubt has a cozy den somewhere close by and the Batlys are hangin' on a porch in Mexico by now. Did you notice that Bettina isn't named after any of the women in our family? :)