A Snake and a Spurious Debate

July 25, 2014 –

Our friend's new calf, "Elijah"

Unfortunately most of my photos are from the “tail end” [pardon the pun] of the visit… 

Benjamin brought a little conversation piece with him in the form of a little black snake

Spotify Mood Music Option #1

(YouTube Link)

This snake’s been getting some photo-posing lessons from a very popular pop-singer who will remain nameless.

Spotify Mood Music Option #2

(YouTube Link)

Truss-ssss-st in Me…

The comment refers to the snake -

I’m not implying that Melanie has a lisp and/or a dubious reputation

[Video]

Later in the evening, (remember this is post-midnight) Micaiah and I became embroiled in a spurious debate.

“…there are multiple reasons for that being the case.  Please let me expound…”

“But, wait, there’s more!”

“…and that’s why Belle is the best Disney princess.  Here’s why that matters…”

*Pulls glasses off for an emotional connection and dramatic effect*

I’m thinking: Hmm…it looks like I’m really striking a chord and from their faces, I’m really sensing an empathetic vibe…

…well that didn’t last long!

Notice: There’s no smile on MY face!

Melanie gets in my face

Micaiah tells me to walk out the door and leave…

..but neither of us could keep a straight face for long!

Eventually Micaiah calmed me down and very logically found a solution to our disagreement.

For those of you who don’t know know what spurious means (or didn’t take the time to look up the meaning when I used it earlier in this post) it basically means “fake” or “counterfeit” which are the best two terms to describe our little spat. 

Unfortunately, I’m afraid that we had a couple of people in the room convinced that we were in a truly heated and emotional debate instead of a repartee.

“Mea Culpa, Me Paenitet”

The ladies having a discussion free from raised voices, enthusiastic gesturing and other conversational dramatics.

Peace out!

Oh, and “Mea Culpa, Me Paenitet” is basically, “My bad” in Latin.

Black Snake

 

Black (Rat) Snake

Great Plains Rat Snake

   Benjamin and Noah found this snake on our road yesterday evening and Benjamin identified it as at a Great Plains Rat Snake which is a type of snake that we had never seen in our area.

Just FYI-it’s not poisonous.

Snake Finds His Dinner: A Toad

Snake Finds His Dinner-A Toad from J. Andrew Wong on Vimeo.

In Genesis, we know that the snake was cursed to crawl on it's belly. Watch as this snake has just captured his dinner - a toad - while slithering through our yard.

The snake is a common garter snake. Garter snakes are carniverous and give birth to their young. Their lifespan is only about six years. Thankfully, they are harmless to humans.

The Snake

One hot afternoon we found a snake in the process of eating a toad. We watched as the fangs were injected into the bumpy surface of the doomed toad.
When we see things like this we see again the evidence of a cursed and fallen world. However, through these conversations we get to speak about our blessed redemption from sin and how we can be forgiven of our great sins. We speak about how our sins are as scarlet and how Jesus’ grace and mercy can make them as white as snow.
We all watched as the toad sank deeper and deeper into the snake’s mouth until all that you could see was the large “bump” in the snake. It went deeper and deeper until it was halfway through the snake’s body. Then you could see how small the head of the snake was and how large their mouths can open.

J. Andrew