Yesterday afternoon I walked out the laundry door to get clothes off the line and as I reached the clothes line, I heard this rustling sound, a bit like the sound of scrunching cellophane wrap. I looked down and saw the tail of a brown snake about a foot away from my feet!! The rest of it's body was going behind a large potted plant that was nearby.
At the same time, my three little dogs all rushed to the pot to investigate, which, of course, frightened the snake which lifted it's head ready to attack.
It was about then, that my brain registered that we were all in danger and it was time to act!! So I yelled at the dogs, who thankfully recognised the fear in my voice (the same fear that I have in my voice when they go too close to a toad!) and all stepped backwards looking at me.
The snake, thankfully, took that opportunity to escape through a small gap in the fence and disappeared in the direction of the empty block of land next door.
At this point I heard the loud flip flopping sound of Adoring Husband's footsteps coming through the house towards the laundry door and then the sound of his worried voice asking what was happening.
In my slightly pathetic and frightened shrill voice I said "It was a brown snake under the clothes line!" which caused him to yell "Get inside and take the dogs!"
The snake was already gone but Adoring Husband wasn't going to take any chances. He climbed up on one of the outdoor chairs to look over the fence but couldn't see any sign of the snake, which was probably more frightened than all of us put together and had long since disappeared to a place of safety!!
We are all probably more paranoid than the normal person about snakes because my father died from a brown snake bite, which is a story for another day, so this little experience would have been quite entertaining from an outsider's point of view, had they seen it.
The clothes are STILL on the clothes line ... I think I will gather the courage and attempt to retrieve them again today.
Adoring Husband (who was once a first-aid trainer with Railcorp) has now put together a snake bite kit and placed it in an easy to access spot in the house, just in case. He gave me a lesson this morning on how to apply a pressure bandage and the correct order in which to apply first aid for snake bites.
Now, and until the fresh fear subsides, we are paranoid about being in the back yard or entering the shed or collecting the eggs from the chooks - although the chooks would be making a hell of a noise if the snake went anywhere near the chookhouse!!
Ya gotta love Australian wildlife! It certainly has a way of keeping you on your toes!
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