Came home the other day and since the garage door was open, I went that way. The door going into the house was locked so I fumbled for my key. I heard a scuffling noise. Looked over and saw a snake slithering along the wall behind the bicycles.
I banged on the door and yelled "Let me in!" to my guy inside, at the same time frantically searching for my key. Luckily, the snake was going toward the outside instead of toward me because my guy didn't show up till I had unlocked the door.
"Something wrong?" he asks in that smug way men meet women's panic.
I rushed in and slammed the door. "Snake!"
His amusement vanished. "What!"
"Yes! Snake! Snake! Snake in the garage!"
It took him a minute but then he cautiously opened the door and peered out, more cautiously looked around.
"It's gone," I told him, coming to my senses. "And I think it was a black snake. Maybe the one that menaced our neighbor the other month."
After going into its length -- three to five feet; it's hard to say since the bicycles hid it and I only saw part of it -- and whether it was indeed a black snake -- I'm pretty sure that was its color -- we decided we were safe.
I've been told that black snakes not only eat insects and spiders but that they also scare off other snakes. I hope that part's true, because a friend ran across a big rattler not too long ago. It was on the other end of the island but still...
Here a pic of Allison's rattler:
It goes without saying that now we knock on the back door before we go into the carport. Just to make sure any snakes there understand we are coming their way!