What’s in Your Shed?

This summer I have slowly been trying to de-clutter my house and garage. My grand plan is to have a huge garage sale at the end of the summer when I’ve been through everything we own and deciphered if it is worthy enough to take up space in our lives.

I’m always amazed at what I find. Things I’ve forgotten I owned, or things my husband has brought home that I was unaware that we ever owned. It can be surprising the things you can find laying around.

I have to say that I am glad that I didn’t find in my garage what a Florida man found in his shed while cleaning it out. This unlucky gentleman found a 13-foot, 100-pound Burmese albino python living in a shed on his property.

The man found what little was left of his cat that had gone missing along with a lot of shed snake skin. Apparently, the shed had been the snake’s home for some time now. It took five people to remove the snake from the man’s shed.

It seems that people releasing their old snake pets into the wild has made this a common occurance, and a huge problem in Florida.

I personally loathe snakes. Everything about them gives me the willies. From the way they slither, to how silent they are when they move, to the creepy hissing sound they make. Just thinking about them right now is making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

This is just one more reason that I’m glad I live in Montana. I will take finding a big furry bear in my garage, or a grouchy old badger in my field, over finding a 13-foot python in my shed. I’ll take the cold winter, snow and icy roads over the sun, sands and warm beaches any day, if that means I will never have to worry about finding a snake on my property that weighs as much as I do.

Joy Larson is a mother of four boys, graduate of the University of Montana, animal lover and writer.