Rain!

We have received a good down pour in the middle of the afternoon the last three days in a row. I hope it keeps up, but I'm sure it's done. It's bringing out all kinds of critters but I guess it's better than the critters that start coming out during drought conditions looking for water everywhere, even in your house. It's funny, Murphy's Law I guess, but doesn't it always seem like when you have people over, the "exciting" things happen? We had our friend Tina from DC over for dinner Monday night since she was in Texas for a wedding and visiting family and made a stop in Austin. After we hung out on the back patio grilling salmon fillets and squash, we finished dinner and then grilled a dessert pizza with nutella and sliced strawberries and bananas. It was delicious. Roger went back out to turn off the gas after letting the grill burn everything off the grates and as soon as he got to the back door, he saw a snake across the step. I of course was intrigued and had to go see it. Tina ran to the sofa and got on top of it. I made it outside in time to try to grab his tail as he slithered in between the house foundation and the patio concrete. I wanted to see more of it so I could figure out what kind of snake it was. I'm sure it wasn't venomous, but I still wanted to know. I don't have a problem with snakes. I'd prefer them to rats and roaches. But I started to think about this snake eating up all the hundreds of geckos that are always around our house, getting fatter and fatter out on our patio and one day after we put our house on the market, buyers walk out there and see a big snake on the patio. That won't help us sell our house. Not that we're putting our house on the market any time soon, but it will happen eventually. So I'm going to wait to see how many more times we see the snake before I do something about it. I don't think it's just the rain that's bringing out all the critters I've been seeing in the yard and flower beds lately. The newest neighbors in the lot behind us don't mow their acreage like the previous owner so the grass is very tall and a breeding ground for critters. I've seen more snakes and fat, fat, lizards this summer than since we originally bought the house. And I think I saw a mouse, but I'm not positive. You gotta love irresponsible neighbors.