Snakes and Rats and such

Our last several weeks have been full of life's small difficulties: children with tummy bugs, one car on the side of the highway needing to be towed followed by the other car requiring a very large repair the next week, real estate losses one after the other on our home. But this week's interesting thing really bothered me the most. A few days ago, as the kids were playing they found a fresh snakeskin on the basement stairs. This was upsetting, but I tried to take it in stride. The next day, the owner of our house had someone come to investigate the snakeskin appearance. The news got worse. There are MULTIPLE snakeskin's in the basement, associated with large rat snakes (6 ft!) because there is also lots of evidence for RATS in this basement. RATS. I am currently living in a old large home with gaping old wooden doors, five small children and rats and snakes in the basement.

I am now ready to move. The beauty of this old in-town Columbia neighborhood can be appreciated at a distance.