A Friday Fiasco

Today is my Friday off, and I usually take these days to clean my house and catch up on laundry so my Saturdays will be free. I worked diligently to get my kitchen clean and decided to put a load of laundry in while I was cleaning. Sorted my piles and went to the garage to start the water in the washing machine. Put my soap in and went back to get my load of jeans. I was pretty darn close to getting that load of jeans in when I saw a black tail something like a lizards flash under the rim of the washing machine. "Ahh, what are you, a little lizard," I asked outloud. Leaned in a little closer to get a better view, and I sure got a better view--OF A SNAKE--coiled up under the rim of the washer! Yes, I admit it, I screamed. Like a girl. I knew I had to shut the lid on the washer so that he wouldn't crawl out, but how?! I was NOT putting my hand anywhere near that machine. I found a broom and slammed the lid shut--pretty sure he got a nice little jolt as the lid came crashing down. I stood there panicking, jeans now on the floor. EEEWWWWWWW!!!! Heebie jeebies. Heebie jeebies.

I ran inside to call Mike--voicemail. :( Called my parents and Mom answered. "Does Dad have plans today? Think he could come over and get a snake out of my washing machine?" Oh yes, she had the audacity to laugh at the situation, of course, because it wasn't her. Dad came over, and like a true Bookout whipped out his camera for me to take pictures while he saved the day. Yeah, okay, so I aleady had thought about it and had mine ready.

We went into the garage and opened the lid. He was not there. He had changed sides, probably thanks to the jousting I gave him by slamming the lid shut--serves him right. We moved my car out of the garage and moved all the clothes laying around in case he needed lots of room and made a mess. :) He drained the water out of the washer and didn't realize when he did that the machine was also on a spin cycle, so when we opened the lid again, he was completely gone from under the rim. :( "He's probably somewhere in the body of the machine now," Dad told me. He worked for about 15-20 minutes trying to get the top of the machine off, the entire time reassuring me by saying things like, "He'll probably die in here and stink up the whole place." Or "If I can't get this lid off, I'm going to have to leave him, but you can still do laundry." Oh. Right. I can do laundry, but Dad is afraid to put his fingers in the lid to look for the button to push to get the top of the machine off?! I. Don't. Think. So.

After all that time, he came to the conclusion that the washer was too heavy for him, and there was nothing for him to do by himself. So, he left the snake in my washing machine. Oh yes, he's still in there. Dad's advice as he was driving away, "Keep your cars locked and the windows up. He has special keys to get inside." N-I-C-E.

Pretty sure I am NOT doing laundry until that bad boy is found and killed. And I am certainly not going back into that stinking garage alone. Good thing we pulled my car out.