Moe, stretched out on her couch, sleeping

Here is Moe, queen of our house. Moe was an abandoned street dog we took in over 12 years ago. We think she was about 1 year old when we rescued her, making her 13 now. As queen, Moe sleeps wherever she wants to.

(Fortunately, she’s too short to jump up on the bed, or that last sentence wouldn’t be true. I let a dog sleep on the bed — once — and that was one time too many.)

Moe, on her dining room pad

She looks to be part Australian Cattle Dog, maybe. The other parts, who knows.

We actually took in three abandoned dogs at the same time and named them Curly, Larry and Moe. Curly and Larry were brothers (black and white mixed breed) but weren’t related to Moe. Curly and Larry have died, leaving us with Moe as our only non-Labrador.

Moe hanging out on the carpet

Moe in the kitchen, looking for crumbs

All dressed up

I now own a pair of snake-proof gaiters. I bought them at Cabela’s after I found a snake immediately outside my back door.

The dogs found the snake, actually, not me. I could hear their barking-at-something bark and went to investigate. I expected to see them at the fence, looking out at the road at a loose dog or someone riding by on a bicycle or horse.

Wrong again.

They were in a pack formation, four dogs gathered around a snake coiled up in the corner. Somehow I managed to call the dogs off and got them in the house. I was worried that it was a rattlesnake and that the dogs had been bitten. Over the years, we’ve had at least six dogs with rattlesnake bites. (They all survived their snake bites. Most had been vaccinated for just such an occurrence, but even the ones that weren’t vaccinated survived because we got them to the vet in time.) I was also worried about what I was going to do with a rattlesnake outside my back door. I couldn’t just shoo it away or leave a trail of treats to coax it to leave the yard in the direction that was best for both of us.

Snake Catching Stick

Fortunately, it wasn’t a rattlesnake. It wasn’t any kind of poisonous snake. However, it was still a snake, a full-grown snake — probably a rat snake — and it was still in the corner of the house right outside my back door. I retrieved the snake-catching noose that hubby put together a few years ago.

I caught the snake in the noose. Then I realized I had not opened any gate and now I had my hands full. I had to put the snake back in the corner, open a gate, then recapture the snake.

It was at least four feet long and it did not like being in that noose. It coiled and coiled around the noose while I carried it out to the front pond, apologizing to it all the way, hoping I wasn’t hurting it, but explaining that I couldn’t leave it where it was. I let it go and wished it well.

Snake Catching Noose

.
That evening I went to Cabela’s and bought my newest fashion accessories: snake-proof gaiters. The information on the tag said that the gaiters were successful in guarding against simulated snake bites.

That’s odd, because all the snake bites around my house are real.