update

the snake (i named him pookie) in the post below, i believe has died. my husband said he saw pookie in the middle of our neighbors lawn in full sun, and it hadn't moved in a half of a day. i cannot understand how it might have died, other than a lack of food (which means we have no vermin in our yards, can't say that i'm sad about that). we are hoping that he was taking a sun nap, for a really really long time. or molting. which would be really cool. but, we are very sad if he did pass, especially my dog, who thought she found a new friend.

in other news, we are having a stretch of near 90 degree weather, with the nights still very warm. i haven't had much time, energy, or enthusiasm for gardneing still, and i've never been a fan of hot weather, sweating, or working under the blazing sun. i guess having a 3 month old sucks the life out of you. not that i'm complaining, i'd take playing with my son over gardening any day.

but i did manage, between naps and in 10 minute intervals so i could duck back into the air conditioning, to finally mulch part of our garden beds to stop the sun from burning the plants and their roots, and plant the near dead violas we'd purchased almost a month ago. unfortunately, the red salvias we bought did not make it into the ground before the sun burnt them up. all the other plants we bought (snow in summer, bellflowers, veronica) are still living although are just short of being baked due to the summer heat. when i checked them after spreading the mulch though, they are growing, and growing through the burnt parts.

and the bellflowers are still blooming, the veronica is doing okay in the clay-like soil, the near dead violas are reviving, and the dog ran over my peony plant.

i think i might try to transplant the peony. any suggestions of how and when?

i almost peed my pants...

...and freaked out so many times in the span of 30 minutes that i KNOW i did some damage to my heart.

so i'm walking outside to let the dog in. i stopped when i saw her hunched over and staring at the bush near the fence with one paw up (think hound dog pointing at a duck). so, i go over to take a look, thinking it was a cute bunny or chick or something.

well, no, not that cute. i almost peed my pants. this is what i saw.
the snake was in my driveway IN THE SUBURBS and i would guess that, if stretched out, it would be about 4 feet long (seeing since, coiled up, it was at least 2 feet).

after my initial freak out complete with near pants-wetting almost loud scream, i tried to stop the dog from trying to play with and eat it and get her inside. she, of course, did not want to with her new friend slithering in front of the door so i tried the age old trick of "wanna go for a ride?" which made her run to the car and jump in. then i went back inside to get my camera.

even knowing it was there, i still freaked out a little when i stepped outside to snap photos of it. mostly, i wanted proof of the snake since no one would believe my story, but also wanted pictures to look it up on the internet and to take to the emergency vet in case the snake bit my dog before i came out on the off chance it was venomous.

i finally got it inside to look it up, and after i thoroughly examined my dog for bites, the first web page i come to has a snake that looks like this:
which is the eastern massasauga rattlesnake, the only venomous snake in michigan. i freaked again, thinking that it was just my luck that i would have, in the middle of the city, the only suburban postage stamp yard that the ONLY venomous snake in michigan had made it its home. after calming down a bit, i compared pictures, and told myself that the snakes in my backyard did NOT have a rattler, and the head is totally different, and my snake is skinnier.


so i've decided that my snake is like this one. it's an eastern milk snake. non venomous and minding its own business. and now that the shock is over, i just wonder what it's doing here, in the city, and even think it's kinda cute. i shall name him Pookie.

my final freak out startle complete with sky high jumping out of my seat came when i was researching snakes on the internet and came across this webpage and scrolled down to see this photo...
i don't know why it freaked me out but this little tiger salamander just did. and it is kinda creepy in a cute way.