Saturday, September 20, 2008

Do YOU want it?

(I know... this should be a 'September' poem. Hopefully later!)

Mother Doesn't Want a Dog

by Judith Viorst

Mother doesn't want a dog.
Mother says they smell,
And never sit when you say sit,
Or even when you yell.
And when you come home late at night
And there is ice and snow,
You have to go back out because
The dumb dog has to go.

Mother doesn't want a dog.
Mother says they shed,
And always let the strangers in
And bark at friends instead,
And do disgraceful things on rugs,
and track mud on the floor,
And flop upon your bed at night
And snore their doggy snore.

Mother doesn't want a dog.
She's making a mistake.
Because, more than a dog, I think
She will not want this snake.

(Thought you might want to see what I found just recently!)
:-)
common garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis).

But, I'm not keeping him for a pet. Even if My Mother said, "Yes!" ;-)

6 comments:

  1. Just what I needed - a good chuckle! Love the poem and your yard "pet." I've got a bunch around here, always sunning themselves on my little stone walls and even on my stone mulch in the front bed.

    I startled a huge garter snake recently, while filling the birdbath. He had to be about two feet long... maybe I should say that he startled me!

    Great post!

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  2. Loved your poem, hated your snake!!

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  3. Deb, I'm never sure which is more startled during an encounter... me or the snake! :-) I found a perfect shed skin (the snake was at least 18-24" long) that I'm keeping for "show and tell!" ;-)

    flydragon, thanks for stopping again. I don't bother them and he eats everything else I don't especially like around here! ha.

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  4. I saw a garter snake over the weekend. As I was walking on the road, there it was. I used to be afraid of them, but now I think they're kind of cute.

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  5. I want them both!! I love snakes & I miss have dogs, yes dogs plural. I'm with Kylee, snakes are cute.

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  6. Kylee, I should post photos of other snakes I've seen. Actually, there was a tiny little guy in the grass this Spring. I don't know what ever happened to him...

    MMD, There's always someone that loves something that someone else doesn't! ;-) Actually I don't hate snakes. I have actually touched one (under control of another person). ha. I've had a couple in the classroom in aquariums. I really appreciate their "functionality." But I don't want one as a pet. :-) And dogs? I like dogs, a lot. But I don't want another whenever "Sidney" is no longer with us.

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Thank you for visiting today. I don't mean to make it hard for you to leave a message, but temporarily I am going to enable word verification. Too many spam messages to deal with lately. Thanks for your patience! SG