Oak Tree B&B

We've got a visitor🐍

We’ve got a visitor. We think he checked-in just before the storms last week, he never even came down to the front desk—which frankly, we’re thankful for. No need Sir, we’ll take care of everything, just enjoy your stay.

I’ve named him Herman.

At first I thought he might have been a rattle snake—Herman’s pretty big for an oak snake. He’s gotta be at least four-foot long, and is as big around as a silver dollar. But upon further inspection—those weren’t diamonds, and I ain’t hear’d no rattle.

Besides, like Pops said afterwards, “If’n he’d been a rattle snake, he’da been in a rattle tree, not an oak tree.” Gee, thanks for the insight there Pops.

Herman’s staying in the big oak tree in my front yard. He’s been living there for about five days now. At least I think he’s still there—I haven’t seen him in a couple of days, but my sweetheart has. And, there still doesn’t seem to be any squirrels or birds hopping around out front.

He mostly seems to just stay curled up in his cozy little hole, only occasionally coming out to wonder—or most likely hunt the tree branches. We’ve not seen him on the ground once.

“Kill’em,” has been the most common response—but Herman’s not poisonous, so I’m not afraid of him.

“A rat snake will get in your walls,” is also advice that I was given more than once—but my cat, Scarlet, keeps the mice in the woods, so there's nothing for Herman to go after in my walls.

So as long as he sticks to the tree or the woods, I’m going to leave Herman be—he’s got just as much right to his life as I do mine.

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What would you have done? Would you have killed him? Moved him? Or left him alone?

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The ancient Greeks and Romans—during the hellenistic period used a word, an idea, they called Sympatheia. It means, “all things are interwoven with each other and therefore have affinity for each other.”

Marcus Aurelius said, “frequently consider all things in the universe and their relation to one another.”

Buddha called it interconnectedness, and Ahimsa is the Hindu belief that symbolizes compassion for all living things.

Now I’m no vegan. I’m not even a vegetarian, and while I don’t care to hunt—I have, and I do have a freezer full of venison. My neighbors keep my freezer full for me. But still, I’m not into needlessly killing another living creature just because it’s creepy.

Hell, I ain’t got nothing against Herman. Frankly, I think he’s pretty damn cool! My dude is just hanging out, making the best he can of this thing called life.

So I’m going to leave him alone.✌

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Update: I’m pretty sure Herman has moved on—we haven’t seen him in three days now, and the squirrels are back…

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