WHAT THE CAT DRUG IN

4:00 PM ~ April 22, 2008

Tanya sits at the computer, answering emails and pondering whether or not she'll make it outside this afternoon to work in the yard, take a walk, or whatever.....She looks over her shoulder to see what Cato, her curious, playful, loveable, and mischievous kitten, is up to as he

bounces around and tumbles head over heels in the far corner of the room to her left.

"Oh, how cute. I really love my silly white kittens. Look! He's attacking a striped bungee cord he's brought upstairs. He loves things that twist around, that he can carry all over the house and throw up in the air, " she says to herself.

Shortly thereafter, Tanya thinks, "Bungee cord? Hmmmmm....I don't have any around the house that small, and I sure don't have one that's striped on the top and solid on the bottom."

She turns around to check on Cato, only to find that the bungee cord is, in actually, a desperate, exhausted, petrifed, can't even think about slithering away, ready to meet his Maker.....

juvenile garter snake. Over the years, Tanya has picked up a lot of snakes here on the farm, but she's never, ever heard a little snake voice so gratefully and semi-consciously repeating, "Thank you....thank you, thank you, thank you...thank you...."

"Eliza!" Tanya calls. "Come see what the cat drug in!!!"

Eliza, who's taking her afternoon nap, jumps out of bed, horrified. "Mom, what's wrong? Is the house on fire? Are you OK? EEEEEEEKKKKK!!!!! You've got a snake in your hands!!!!!!" she screams in her sonambulous state, really not aware of where she is in time or space.

Tanya lovingly tells to go back to sleep and gently carries the seemingly lifeless snake outside.

When it realizes it's in the grass, all the little serpent can do is look up at Tanya, as if to say a " WHEW !!!!! I think I've just survived a near death experience." Then it slowly and painfully slithers away.

Meanwhile, Cato, the truly perplexed cat, continues to look for his stolen toy upstairs in the computer room.

The End