7/11 will not be forgotten here at the homestead. Not so much the date, although it has a certain ring to it, but certainly the day. It was a nice sunny Sabbath or Saturday morning. We were ready to go to church so Meena and her mom went out to her car.

She opened the trunk and quickly inspected it to make sure that there were no visible mouse droppings (Yes you read that right). One thing about living in the country is that you will encounter critters. It comes with the territory and we've had to deal with these varmints even making it into our vehicles. It's an ongoing war but we're determined to be the victors!

Meena: I turned on my car and smelled something unusual. I thought to myself that maybe I needed to replace the cabin filter because I had found critters in there before, but this smell was different and I couldn't quite finger it. It wasn't a dead mouse as it wasn't that strong but just a faint unfamiliar and unknown odor.

Yolan: I actually thought as well that something didn't quite smell right, but for some reason, I didn't say anything. Likely all of us noticed it, but no one communicated our thoughts audibly. Probably no one wanted to say 'Hey your car smells!' lol.

Meena: Once everyone got in, I prayed and off we went. The trip (which is just shy of an hour) was rather uneventful as it usually is when I drive. We made it to church and enjoyed the Sabbath School, sermon, potluck, and the newly formed For His Glory Book Club where we discussed a book called Help in Daily Living. It was a semi-full Sabbath day for us which is always a blessing. After our inspiring book club discussion, we said our goodbyes to our church family, got in the car, prayed for God's presence and protection as always, and drove off to our homestead.

A Stowaway!

During the drive we were all chatting about this and that. After the chatter had died out, I uncharacteristically looked down and saw something staring at me! My mind went into a state of shock. It couldn't be! What is this kind of creature doing inside the car! I loudly exclaimed to everyone "Don't Panic!" and I started to slow down. Thankfully the road we were on didn't have much traffic. My mom was in the passenger seat and couldn't figure out why I'd said that as she saw nothing in front of us. Then she looked down and immediately raised both of her legs off of the floor. In the meantime, I steered the car to the shoulder and stopped. As my heart raced, I calmly said what I couldn't ever imagine saying, "There's a snake in the car".

Yolan: There was a brief, stunned silence and then the mad rustling of 5 women attempting to exit the vehicle all at once. Meena got out and immediately went to the passenger side and opened the door so that her mom could exit. Meanwhile, in the backseat, I was apparently nervously fumbling too long attempting to unclick my seatbelt when Ally (who was sitting in the middle) turned to me and said in a very serious and maybe slightly panicked tone 'Please let me out of the car'!

Ally: The phrase "Don't Panic!" triggered a terrifying image in my mind of a large animal darting across the road or a nearby forest fire, but the thought of a snake lurking in the car never crossed my mind. Once we came to a stop, it felt like an eternity as Yolan struggled to unbuckle her seatbelt, though in reality, it was only a moment. Little did I know, the snake had already slithered back under the glove compartment, yet I could imagine it making its way toward me, ready to strike! I frantically urged her to "let me out of the car!" as if she were somehow keeping me captive. Being trapped in the middle seat created a claustrophobic sense of helplessness, as if I was the snake's prime target. At that moment, I had no idea it was a harmless red racer, which I later learned could bite if cornered, even though not venomous.



Meena: When we all got out, Yolan asked to open the hood to see if it had slithered out somewhere under there. I was quite shaken and needed a few minutes to calm down. We noticed that there was a tow truck that slowed down and stopped a few feet in front of us. The driver got out and walked towards us asking what the trouble was. When I told him that there was a snake in the car, he immediately put up his hands and said "Whoaaaa” while taking a couple of steps backward. After he recovered, we both went towards the passenger side as I explained that my mom just saw the body of the snake when it went into the opening under the glove compartment. He asked if she saw the tail and she said yes and confirmed that it was it was not a rattler. Phew!

Yolan: As Ally stated, the snake actually turned out to be a red racer, also known as a coachwhip. They are fast moving and non-venomous. They will bite but would much rather flee.


Red Racer
Meena: I suggested that we all pray and then I took off the bottom of the glove box where the cabin filter is located. There was no sign of the snake. We then proceeded to go towards the hood of the car and after a few minutes of unproductive search we decided we should just drive home. Yolan offered to drive and I accepted the offer as I was happy to take a backseat this time :).

Yolan: Ya, we had to get home and somebody had to drive. Ally wasn't going to after that close encounter and I was pretty sure that Meena didn't want to either at that point. We're thankful that we can all help each other out, out here. Some weeks back (after this snake situation) I encountered what I term, "The Tarantula from Gargantua" underneath my trailer. He was unneccesarily large. I mean, what on earth had he been eating to become that Goliath-like in size?

Anyway, Meena is afraid of snakes but not tarantulas. I'm afraid of tarantulas but not snakes lol. When it ran out and I could see it in its full glory .. Olympic leg span and all, I started screaming and jumping up and down! (Sorry I have no photo of it, I was too busy freaking out to snap one) The others who didn't see it, thought that I had been bitten by a snake, lol. Thankfully Meena was able to help me out in that situation. It was another memorable wildlife encounter, but I digress. Back to our story ...

The Long Drive Home

We all nervously got back into the vehicle and proceeded to make our way home. Mind you now, we never found the snake! That left a fair amount of uncertainty as to whether or not it was still in the car. While sitting in the backseat, Meena started to audibly rehearse and re-tell what had just happened as she was trying to process it all. Little did she know that her animated description of the reptile and the whole ordeal was making me quite nervous in the driver's seat. She had come to the conclusion that the snake had exited the car when we stopped, through whatever hole it came in through. I was not of that opinion though and was making every effort to not look down as she had, so that I wouldn't find myself gazing into the beady eyes of that stowaway!

Meena: Although I was oblivious to this, I did notice that the speedometer was well over the speed limit which is uncharacteristic of Yolan. Finally, when we got to our property, she parked my car in my usual parking space and as soon as she pressed the brake she said "I just want to get out of this car!" That's when I realized that she was scared as well.

Yolan: Yeah, in my mind I was quoting scriptures for protection while driving and really wishing that Meena would stop talking about it! It was a very memorable experience to say the least.

Meena: The smell that we had noticed at the beginning was indeed that of a snake and his droppings. Later when I cleaned the car, I found further evidence of it as well as mice droppings in the trunk.

Yolan: Now before you go off thinking, "Well you guys are just a bunch of unkempt hillbillies! If you'd just keep your vehicles clean, there'd be no such issues!" Ha ha ... if only. Meena's car is the cleanest out of all of ours. In these circumstances its not necessarily a matter of cleanliness. The critters are constantly looking for food and shelter. One or the other will do. Her car apparently offered comfortable shelter for them and was easier to get into. But like they say, where there's smoke, there's fire. Out here, where there are rodents, there are snakes. Its just how it is.

Meena: Truly its still quite surreal in my mind that this happened.

Yolan: Yeah we laugh about it now, but I'll assure you, it was no laughing matter at the time.

Meena: As we reflected on our unforgettable and unnerving adventure later on, a few things came to our minds (there's always something to be grateful for):

1. We had probably exited the highway only 15 or so minutes prior to the snake making his grand appearance. Had this happened on the highway with large trucks and speeding vehicles around us, this story could've turned out very differently.
2. The snake slithered away from us and not towards us, not between our feet, or on anyone. I can only imagine the chaos that would have ensued had that happened.
3. Before the tow truck driver left us, Yolan was able to share some spiritual material with him about God. He didn't appear to be a Christian. Talk about extreme outreach, lol :-).

So God truly protected us. The timing and the place of this incident couldn't have been better.

Yolan: Psalm 46:1 sums things up well:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Solutions

A few days ago, our neighbor came over to borrow some electrical tape because the critters had gotten under the hood of her vehicle and were chewing wires. She's been having similar issues as us (minus the snake of course) and has tried some of the same things that we have. Blinking lights, sonar repellants, we even did strobe lights ... all to no avail. I was picking my car up from the mechanic the other day and asked if its possible to put hardware cloth under the car where the engine bay is. He said that yes that was possible. We may explore that option more later on. Right now, we've discussed possibly getting a feral cat. We'd just have to train our dogs to not attack it as they have a habit of hunting and eating critters that are smaller than them. We feed them well but they like to hunt. Its Wild Kingdom lol.

Anyway, another adventure on the homestead! Never a dull moment. Despite episodes such as this one, we love it out here and would not trade it for city living again!

That's all for now, God's blessings to you and Happy Homesteading!