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Setting Boundaries
A Thursday Prompt story
© 2025 by Walter Reimer
Prompt: restrict
Author’s Note: This is a true story that began last night and required me to do some shopping at seven this morning. The prompt Vixyy has given us is therefore entirely fortuitous.
So there.
***
I had a Florida Moment last night.
You see, Florida is, to a certain extent, quite a bit like America’s Australia. Basically, the jungle and its associated wildlife are always trying to get into your house. The major difference between Florida and Australia is not everything’s actively trying to kill you.
Around nine o’clock last night I'm walking past my front door as I'm making sure the house is locked up and the alarms are on. I detect a motion out of the corner of my eye and look down to see what at first appears to be a black thread about three inches long.
Then it moves.
At first glance I think "Earthworm?" Granted we'd had rain earlier in the day, but having a worm get into the house would be a first. I look a little closer and start noticing certain things. First, an earthworm is relatively pointed at both ends, not finely pointed at one end and bluntly rounded at the other. Second, an earthworm, being a worm, has a certain moist sheen and has rounded segments like it was something that came out of the Michelin Man. Third, an earthworm isn’t completely black and has beady little black eyes.
I straighten up and say to myself, "Hmm, that time of year again."
It was a baby black racer; i.e., a snake. Black racers are fast, not venomous, and can get aggressive if you corner them. Of course, this one was about three inches long, so probably recently hatched.
I scooped Baby Snek up and hurled him out into the yard before spraying a small buffer zone of pesticide at the base of each door leading into the house. Then I complete the process of getting ready for bed and get some shuteye.
This morning comes, and while celebrating the Blessed Sacrament of Coffee I’m scouting about on the internet for snake repellents. Yes, such things exist. A certain store not far from the house sells it, so after breakfast I drive to the aforesaid store to acquire the aforesaid product, getting there shortly after seven in the morning when the place opens.
Paydirt. A four-pound (less than two kilogram) bag for under twenty dollars. I grab the item, get through the checkout, and head home.
When I get the material home, I scrutinize the usage directions with an interested scrut. Hm, I don’t have to mix it with water, which is good. It will lose potency over time, which is not so good but will have to do. I put on a pair of disposable kitchen gloves as directed and open the bag.
Smells vaguely of mothballs, which – okay, stop snickering there in the back of the room, I hear you.
Anyway.
It smells not entirely unpleasant to me, but snakes detect odors with their tongues. It must be foul to their delicate sensibilities.
It’s not specific for black racers but does specify usage for venomous (rattlesnakes) and non-venomous (garter snakes) reptiles. Good enough, so I spread a band about six inches in depth across the front of each entrance to the house, as well as under the front windows, and because I’m a great believer in the concept of defense in depth, I set out another barrier at the garage door, the front entry and the back patio door.
I finished the application between seven-thirty and eight o’clock, and we will see what happens.
end
A Thursday Prompt story
© 2025 by Walter Reimer
Prompt: restrict
Author’s Note: This is a true story that began last night and required me to do some shopping at seven this morning. The prompt Vixyy has given us is therefore entirely fortuitous.
So there.
***
I had a Florida Moment last night.
You see, Florida is, to a certain extent, quite a bit like America’s Australia. Basically, the jungle and its associated wildlife are always trying to get into your house. The major difference between Florida and Australia is not everything’s actively trying to kill you.
Around nine o’clock last night I'm walking past my front door as I'm making sure the house is locked up and the alarms are on. I detect a motion out of the corner of my eye and look down to see what at first appears to be a black thread about three inches long.
Then it moves.
At first glance I think "Earthworm?" Granted we'd had rain earlier in the day, but having a worm get into the house would be a first. I look a little closer and start noticing certain things. First, an earthworm is relatively pointed at both ends, not finely pointed at one end and bluntly rounded at the other. Second, an earthworm, being a worm, has a certain moist sheen and has rounded segments like it was something that came out of the Michelin Man. Third, an earthworm isn’t completely black and has beady little black eyes.
I straighten up and say to myself, "Hmm, that time of year again."
It was a baby black racer; i.e., a snake. Black racers are fast, not venomous, and can get aggressive if you corner them. Of course, this one was about three inches long, so probably recently hatched.
I scooped Baby Snek up and hurled him out into the yard before spraying a small buffer zone of pesticide at the base of each door leading into the house. Then I complete the process of getting ready for bed and get some shuteye.
This morning comes, and while celebrating the Blessed Sacrament of Coffee I’m scouting about on the internet for snake repellents. Yes, such things exist. A certain store not far from the house sells it, so after breakfast I drive to the aforesaid store to acquire the aforesaid product, getting there shortly after seven in the morning when the place opens.
Paydirt. A four-pound (less than two kilogram) bag for under twenty dollars. I grab the item, get through the checkout, and head home.
When I get the material home, I scrutinize the usage directions with an interested scrut. Hm, I don’t have to mix it with water, which is good. It will lose potency over time, which is not so good but will have to do. I put on a pair of disposable kitchen gloves as directed and open the bag.
Smells vaguely of mothballs, which – okay, stop snickering there in the back of the room, I hear you.
Anyway.
It smells not entirely unpleasant to me, but snakes detect odors with their tongues. It must be foul to their delicate sensibilities.
It’s not specific for black racers but does specify usage for venomous (rattlesnakes) and non-venomous (garter snakes) reptiles. Good enough, so I spread a band about six inches in depth across the front of each entrance to the house, as well as under the front windows, and because I’m a great believer in the concept of defense in depth, I set out another barrier at the garage door, the front entry and the back patio door.
I finished the application between seven-thirty and eight o’clock, and we will see what happens.
end
Category Story / Human
Species Human
Size 120 x 92px
File Size 55.1 kB
Listed in Folders
Given the cockroach problem I have had since moving into this apartment two years ago (my previous upstairs neighbor was a psychopath), I have welcomed the little lizards into my place. They can gorge themselves on the little pests, meaning there are less crawling on my damned WALLS requiring a slap and then the nasty bit of picking up their remains and transporting them to the garbage bag or drain.
Hope you don't have any more snek probs!
Hope you don't have any more snek probs!
1. (glances at the Florida Furs and Tampa Furs icons on his FA profile page) Yes.
2. I hadn't meant it as a joke.
3. Not migrate, as such; the little bugger was recently hatched so was out hunting. The last time I had to deal with this (about 10+ years ago) was about this time of the year.
4. 1990, according to Google.
2. I hadn't meant it as a joke.
3. Not migrate, as such; the little bugger was recently hatched so was out hunting. The last time I had to deal with this (about 10+ years ago) was about this time of the year.
4. 1990, according to Google.
*chuckles... it is that time of year. My huskies seemed very interested in the corner by the porch door. Lo and behold, there was a two foot black snake. Getting my broom, I chased it out the door. I'm not so much afraid of snakes, but I am cautious - but they do control the rodent populations, and come to find out, a black snake (constrictor) will kill a poisonous snake, as they are immune to the poison.
Vix
Vix
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