River Snake Stories

Yesterday I showed my sister-in-law the snake stories. She liked that they were on a blog so that she can read them on her smart phone where ever she is to the kids.

One time before the kids were born, they were camping on an island in the Mississippi River. Up near Trempealeau, Wisconsin you can boat up the Mississippi River and camp on what ever island you want. (You can also do that on the Wisconsin River near Arena.)

Her and her mom went to the woods to go to the bathroom and were walking back to the food tent. They didn't have the flashlight on as you could see where you were going, when they heard a really loud buzzing/whirring sound like a giant cicada.

Her mom said, I want to turn on the flashlight.

It's just a big bug. We don't need the flashlight.

Turn it on.

They turned on the flashlight and there was a rattlesnake. Her mom froze. My sister-in-law ran around to the back of the tent.

Help, come quick. A rattlesnake.

Mom was froze. She couldn't move.

Here Dad and brother-in-law came with a big log and took care of the snake.

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A story from my niece.

While boating on the Mississippi River you have to make sure that what you see in the water is really a turtle and not a moccasin snake. One time her and her sister and brother were on an island getting ready to get in the boat. They saw a moccasin snake swimming in the water, so when they got in the boat they didn't go in the water. Just went right from the dry land into the boat.

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Over 30 years ago, Jer and I went rafting down the Ichetucknee River in Florida with his friend Val. It's a spring fed, very clear river in central Florida. Since it's spring fed it's cold enough that alligators supposedly don't go in there. We didn't see any alligators. Alligators tend to live in or near most ponds, canals, and rivers in Florida. My husband jokes, "That's why there are so many 3-legged dogs running around here." I was surprised that they didn't provide life jackets because in Wisconsin they are very strict about life jackets. Even back then. Anyway we were swimming in the river, had just got back into the raft when a moccasin snake came swimming by. They swim real good. We pulled our hands and feet into the raft. After that we didn't get out of the raft.

Snake stories

Went to Alverno workshop. It was interesting. Yesterday enjoyed father's day with my husband's family. They have an oral tradition of telling stories and jokes too! So quick wrote down some stories this morning. This is just a first rough draft.

Snake Stories 6/17/13

One time Jer and I were driving back from up north, he was driving I was riding, when I looked out the windshield and saw a snake riding on the hood of Jer's 89 buick park avenue. All of a sudden it came up on the hood right by the windshield. It put it's head up and had it mouth open like a dog with its head out the window only the snake was on the hood of the car. then it crawled all the say over to jer's side of the windshield and did the dog head out of the window thing again. it was about 2-3 inches around and brown. It's body was longer than the car was wide. It rode on the hood in the spot right in front of the windshield for a while then disappeared back down under the hood. Could that snake get into the car?

I picked my feet off the floor and said, "jer, jer stop the car.

My husband smiled slightly. I just knew he was going to tease me.

Can that snake get in the car?

No

Just stop the car.

So he stopped the car, went to the trunk, pulled out a pair of leather work gloves and opened the hood.

I was standing back.

He looked under the hood. The snake was curled around the battery?

He grabbed the snake behind the head and started pulling, and pulling, and pulling. The snake didn't want to let go of the car but finally he got all 6 feet or so of the snake out and tossed him onto the grass. The snake crawled swiftly away and now resides somewhere near Holy Hill. I hope he found a nice home there with lots of mice to eat.

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Susan had a pet snake one time that had babies. The babies escaped the cage. They found most of them except for 3. So before crawling in bed they'd pull back the covers to make sure no snakes were there and shake out and look in her shoes before putting them on. They never did find those 3 snakes.

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Carla has a cousin? in Georgia who works for the GBI which is like the FBI but is for Georgia. She's very interesting to talk to and has a lot of stories to tell. One time Carla's cousin got a call at work from her Grandma who was living in an apartment.

There's a snake in my closet. I'm sitting on my kitchen table with a shot gun.

Carla's cousin said to her boss, I've got to go to my grandma's. She thinks she's got a snake in her closet. She's senile or something.

Her boss said, I'll come with you.

Carla's cousin got to her grandma's apartment. Yup, grandma was sitting on the kitchen table with a shot gun.

Where's the snake?

Grandma pointed to the closet.

Carla's cousin went to the closet. Opened the door, slammed it shut and said, Damn! God Damn! and walked away from the closet.

Her boss said, so is there a snake?

Carla's cousin pointed to the closet.

Her boss went to the closet. Opened the door, slammed it shut and said, Damn! God Damn! and walked away from the closet.

They called animal control.

This red neck guy ambled in, So where's the snake?

They pointed to the closet.

The red neck guy went to the closet. Opened the door, slammed it shut and said, Damn! God Damn! and walked away from the closet.

Turned out that the people in the apartment above had a pet boa constrictor. They put the snake's cage in the bathtub and went on vacation. The snake escaped, crawled through the vents and wrapped itself around grandma's hot water heater in her utility closet. It was big. It would not let go of the hot water heater. They ended up having to turn off the utilities and open the vents so it would hopefully crawl away. Grandma left. Not sure if she ever returned to that apartment.

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When I was a kid I used to walk barefoot through the sandy ground pine woods. One time I stepped on a pine snake. I thought it was a stick. I don't know who was more scared, me or the snake.

Objectives in starting this blog

 Basic objectives are to record my writing journey and practice writing.

I just finished a class through UW Waukesha and Ed2go called Publish and Sell your E-book. I've registered for writing workshop with Alverno and another Ed2go class through UW Waukesha called Write and Publish Your Nonfiction Book.

I enjoyed the class I just finished and am looking forward to the upcoming workshops and new class.