Snake In The Livingroom!

      David saw a snake slither under a chair in the living room!  I put the dog in her family room crate and David, Audrey, Mark, and I armed ourselves with brooms in an attempt to coax the snake to find freedom and go out the open front door.  After several attempts, the snake insisted on hiding under/behind the couch, so we had to take things to the next level and get the shovels out.  We couldn't tell what type of snake we had, so trying to catch him humanely wasn't an option.  It was almost dusk and having a snake slithering around the house at night was not a comforting thought!
      Mark pulled the couch out, saw the snake, screamed like a girl, then ran to Audrey's side, a safe distance from the snake.  David trapped the snake under the big flat head shovel, I pinned it under my pointy shovel, and then David gave the snake a neck chop with his shovel.  Not bleeding on our carpet (whew), but injured enough to be able to shove into a garbage can, the snake was taken outside and Mark - the only person with shoes on, went ahead and stepped on the shovel and severed the snake's head.  After a couple of pictures, David gathered the dead snake on the shovel and tossed it into the woods.
      Comparing pictures of the snake with online pictures, I find that it was a harmless garter snake.  How sad that we killed it, but our bedroom is just off the livingroom and I didn't want it hiding under our bed!