Mom, I need to borrow the camera!

I'm always nervous about sending my camera out to the yard with the boys. I worry that they'll drop it, and then how will I show off picture of my quilts?

The last time my eleven-year-old raced in and wanted it so he could take a picture of the deer that was standing out behind the bee hive, I almost said no. It was in the bottom of my tote bag. There are lots deer in our yard. We've got more pictures of deer than anyone could possibly need.

I'm so glad I said yes, because it turned out the deer he wanted to take a picture of was the three legged doe my husband had seen a few weeks earlier. He was so excited to realize what he had pictures of, and I finally got to see for myself that she existed. (I missed seeing her for real. That's what I get for just glancing out the kitchen window and not paying enough attention to his excitement. But he would have been that thrilled about any big wild mammal in the yard.)

Today he wanted the camera so he could get a picture of a snake. I followed him out, mainly to make sure that no one was going to get bitten trying to catch the thing. It was still on the lawn, squeaking loudly.

Snakes don't squeak. Even though I don't watch nearly as many reptile shows on Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel as my boys, I'm very very sure that snakes don't squeak.

Mice do squeak. And as I was trying to quietly convince the boys to back off so that the snake didn't lose his mouse, the noise drew the attention of my daughter's cat.

Have I mentioned that I don't like snakes? I love that we have them in the yard and that they eat the outside mice before they can try to become inside mice. But I'd rather not get too close to them.

I wasn't sure if the cat was after the snake or the mouse, or if the snake would fight back. How's a mother supposed to handle these things?

My daughter is mad at me for throwing an empty plastic bottle at her cat (I missed, but it was the only way I could figure out to get the cat away from the snake without getting close to it myslef), and the poor snake seems to have lost his mouse. And I'm staying inside for the rest of the afternoon, just in case there's any more drama out there.

No pictures were taken of the snake or the mouse, but they did find a big spider on the basketball hoop and take pictures of him.