We are supposed to have several days of sunshine: I hope so because yesterday I got out the big mower and put it on HIGH and mowed the part of the yard that is to the north – that used to be a field. I had decided last year that I would let some patches revert to tall grass and maybe wildflowers in the more northern part – with wide swaths of paths mowed through them.

That area of reversion is growing. A combination of a lot of rain and not less time than usual and WOW! did that green stuff grow. Actually, it’s not too bad; the tall grass moves in waves with the breeze and when the wind is up, as it was yesterday, it looks like a rolling sea. Makes a nice picture, right? Well, there’s the other side – what creatures lurk in that deep, green sea?

Last year Summer and I were flying kites – or trying to – and she backed into a patch of taller grass and came out at a fast run, screaming. “SNAKE.” Oh, I guess that should have been an exclamation point, not a period. Screaming snake with a matter-of-fact tone just doesn’t work.

I have told this story before so I will just hit the highlights: My dad preached to me about not leaving a mower running; I ran over a snake; I took off screaming “Snake!”; I remembered the commandment and quietly went back and turned the mower off. Then I took off waving my arms and screaming “SNAKE!” even louder.

I think it’s the part about no legs. No legs makes me nervous. Slither is not my favorite word. My sentences are getting basic. My eyes are darting left and right . . . I am off this subject and out of here.