True Sssssstory Tuesday-

It's time again for True Story Tuesday, and oh, do I have a fun one today. This blog carnival is hosted by Rachel at Once Upon a Miracle, so when you're finished here, please make sure to head over there for more giggles and guffaws!

I'm taking a walk down memory lane, back to the early '80's. When most of you weren't born, or were barely toddling. When I was in my TWENTIES, and married to my first husband. He was in the Air Force, and we lived in Goldsboro, N.C. No kids, just us and a dog or two and maybe even a cat. And some gerbils, a guinea pig, a rabbit, and, um, two boa constrictors. Yes, you read that right; TWO boas. One, Cuddles, was 6 feet long. Fred was about 5 feet. And because of the boys, we also had mice (and at one point, rats.. ex-lab rats, to be precise). But the mice were the food source when this particular story took place, so we'll tuck the rat memories away (hopefully forever; I did NOT like the lab rats).

We got Cuddles first and had him for a while before my ex got a "deal" on Fred. I was fine with having another boa; Cuddles lived up to his name and was docile and easy to handle. The ex had been out of town for military training when he bought Fred, and he brought him home in a duffel bag. It was a last minute purchase at the end of training, and we hadn't had a chance to get another aquarium. We did at least know enough not to put Cuddles and Fred in together, but we needed a place for Fred til we could get him a better home. I found a large box, and we decided to keep Fred overnight in the garage with plans to set him up in style the next day.

The next day dawned, bright and early. I checked on the zoo, bit by bit, and I finally made my way into the garage. Fred's box was sitting on top of the dryer, fairly close to the mouse cage; I'm not quite sure WHY that didn't raise a red flag the night before. When I untucked the flaps on Fred's box and looked in, it was empty! There's no way I could look into that box and miss a 5 foot long snake, and it was definitely empty. I don't know about you, but the thought of a 5 foot snake roaming freely through my house wasn't the most comforting thought ever. In fact, I may have said something about moving into a hotel until Fred was found. We looked high, and low, and every place in between. Every time I opened a cabinet door, I expected to see snake eyes staring back at me. And then, the ex had to go to work, leaving ME at home with a snake I didn't know and couldn't see.

You know what? This is getting long. REAL long. So, I think this shall be installment 1.. to be continued..... NEXT week. See ya then!

This is NOT a boa; it's a king snake. I don't have a picture of the boas, but I like pictures with my posts, so this will have to do.