Sam's Snakes

Time just keeps whizzin' on by, doesn't it? Things are good here, though I can't think of much to blog about. Had a nice Sunday with good church and good fellowship... had a busy, laundry filled Monday and a nice, home cooked meal that night... have done lots of proof reading and other odds and ends for James this week... had another pizza party last night because James was out of town until late... stayed up and got about half of the ironing done... And that's about it. Haven't heard anything about the house we made an offer on. It's really not on my mind very much, but when it does come to mind I stop and pray for God to work His will in the situation. Should He decide to give us this house at this price, we would be beyond ecstatic. And should He decide not to, we might be relieved. HA! We really don't care--we just want whatever God has planned for us, be it this or something else.

There is something that I failed to blog about several week ago that I really ought to have recorded somewhere. I can't imagine there's any possibility that we'll ever forget all of Sam's antics, but it still seems right to document them. :-)

When we were at Mom & Dad's house for BTI, Sam and Isaac were out on the paddle boat together when they spotted a snake coming up out of the water and onto the little dock. They paddled toward the dock and Sam saw that the colors and markings on the snake were similar to the copperhead we had killed at the Powell's house just a week or two before. He jumped out of the boat and onto the dock, the snake bit his pant leg, Sam stomped on the snake and held it still (with his foot just behind the snake's head) and hollered for Isaac to run and get the knife. So Isaac jumped out of the boat (that, of course, was not tied up--thus propelling it out into the pond unoccupied as a result of Sam's instruction) and ran to the other side of the pond where the knife was sitting on the table. The "knife" happened to be a utility knife. You know, where it's almost entirely handle with only an inch or so of blade sticking out. THIS is what Sam used to stab the snake through the back of its head. This all happened in rapid succession and by the time the adults heard of the commotion and began gathering around it was all over. Joe had come running inside yelling that Sam had killed a copperhead--something that sent all of us rushing to the scene. I saw the boat drifting solo across the pond and was envisioning somebody (me???) having to get into the nasty water to retrieve it, but that was the least of my worries. My son had been trifling with a copperhead??? We got to the deck and saw that the snake was certainly dead, a hole directly through it's head and another in its side. It did indeed have markings very similar to a copperhead, but the shape and dimensions of its body were completely different. We all stood staring at it for a minute, stunned, then looked to up to see Sam on the other side of the pond with a ginormous tree branch. He had followed the boat over to the bank it was closest to, slapped the branch down on top of it, drug it to the shore, jumped in, and paddled it back to the dock where all of the adults were still standing dumbfounded. No, that's not true. My Dad was not dumbfounded. He was too busy scolding me for my failure to train my kids to stay away from snakes to be dumbfounded. HA! I just stared at him for a minute before finally answering. "Okay, Dad--YOU train Sam to stay away from snakes. And GOOD LUCK to you!" Ha! As it turns out, it was just a harmless water snake, but it was maddening to ALL of us that Sam had THOUGHT it was a copperhead by its markings, but had jumped out of the boat to investigate anyway, the snake bit his pants--could have bitten him--he stomped on the snake, then killed it with a one inch blade--all while thinking it was a venomous snake! ~sigh~ That kid. And while we're standing over the dead snake trying to sort out the story, he's already solved the boat dilemma and is rowing back to shore. That kid is a definite "fix it" guy. If something arises he's going to have it completely under control--good or bad--by the time anybody else even knows there is a problem.

So I have this horrible conflict going on inside of me. The things I was saying out loud were: "Sam!!!!!! You thought it was a copperhead and if it would have been, you could have been bitten by a... ven...o...mous...sna-a-a-a-ake! What were you thinking???" And the things I was thinking on the inside but not saying aloud were: "Wow, he is the coolest kid ever!!! I can't believe how he just handled the whole thing without ever freaking out or showing the least bit of alarm--just took charge and dealt with it, and here we are, dead snake and rescued boat, all by my 7 year old son." I was so proud! Ha! And upset, of course. I hate it when I have conflicting emotions like that! Dad's emotions didn't seem to be dual, however. ;-) And of course, it had nothing to do with anything that SAM had done wrong, just ME and my failure to teach him to stay away from snakes. Ha! ~sigh~ What can you do? ;-) He was struggling with the, "What if it would have been a copperhead" thing.

We had some serious snake talks with that boy.

But then...

A week or two later, back at the Powell's house, I had let the boys go down to the creek to fish. Just before they left the house, we had the usual snake talk: "What do you do if you see a snake???" "We get away from it quick and come straight to you, Mom--we know." Riiiiiight. They had only been gone a few minutes when Joe first checked in on the walkie-talkie. "Mom, I had a bite on my very first cast--and caught a fish on my second!" Then again a couple of minutes later, "They're biting like CRAZY, Mom! I've caught four fish already!" They were having the time of their lives. I love that. :-) They'd been gone less than an hour when the walkie-talkie beckoned again. There was still excitement in Joe's voice, but it was a totally different kind of excitement. He told me with trembling voice that they'd run into a water moccasin. Joe had gotten his lure stuck in a bush on the other side of the creek, so they crossed to retrieve it. While over there, they saw a snake a few feet away. In a flash reaction, Sam grabbed a stick and slammed it down on the snake's neck, pinning it to the ground. It then turned and opened its "cotton mouth" toward them. That scared the boys (even Sam, thank goodness) and they dropped their sticks and ran. They grabbed their gear and called me on the walkie-talking while they were trying to climb the hill back to the house on rubbery legs. I was so mad at Sam!!! If he were a few years older I wouldn't mind his attempts to subdue all things snakely around him, when he has a little more wisdom and common sense. But the thought of my 7 year old tangling with poisonous snakes just doesn't set well with me! One day he will be wonderful to have around and I know we'll feel safer because of his abilities and intuitions. For now, he causes lots and lots of extra prayers and gray hairs. ;-) To his credit, he did seem to be genuinely shaken by this experience and seemed truly ashamed that he hadn't just run away to begin with instead of going after the snake with a stick. I'm hoping that means that perhaps next time he'll run away first, but I'm thankful that there have been no further encounters since that time for us to find out if Sam has really learned anything or not. I'd be perfectly okay if it stayed that way. :-)