Deer, and Turkeys, and Snakes, Oh My!!!

Deer sightings are quite common in our new area. Weekly, Scott reports seeing a deer during his drive to and from work, and saw one the other day between our house and the neighbors. Luckily Maddie hasn't seen one yet -- what will happen then?! Twice in the past week I've also seen wild turkeys in our neighborhood. They're like 4 feet tall! Maddie saw them once, but I don't think she quite knew what it was...

And the snakes! Within a week of moving in, while chatting with the friendly neighbors, we learned that snakes are common in the area. Uh, snakes?!?!?! Yep!

A few days later, our neighbor reported she saw a 4 1/2 foot snake in her bushes. Then a couple more days later, the snake was in the tree right outside our kitchen window. Fearing Maddie might get in a tangle with it, or Brooke crawling in the grass would cross its path, Mom ran out with a yard rake and killed it. (that's me with my "mean snake-killing face")

The deceased snake...