Roo and the "Intruder"

So, I want to tell you I feel really bad I have no pictures to go with this post.  Had I known the events would be so exciting I would have videoed it. 

So, the other day D was home late in the morning (can't remember why, it seems like this week has taken forever).  So, all the dogs were outside, ya know, the 3 big, tough cow dogs whose alternative job is supposed to be to guard the house, and the 2 beagles, who job is to keep me company and look cute and hunt a rabbit or two occasionally. 

So Roo starts barking like CRAZY!  I mean, he was going nuts right by our side porch.  D was like "oh, that dumb dog must have a cat treed on the porch again", because, well, sometimes Roo thinks it's funny to tree the cats on the porch (don't worry he would never hurt them!).  The big dogs were laying in the driveway and  didn't even get up when he went to see what was going on (it should have been a hint to D that something was up when even Jake didn't jump right up when he went outside). 

So D walks out the backdoor and around the house toward the side porch (not sure why he didn't just go out the side door) and he gets like halfway to the side porch and I see/hear him start yelling, cursing (it's a VERY bad habit of his) and jumping around.  Well, I immediately thought Roo must HAVE had a cat treed on the porch and when D went out it ran and the big dogs must have thought they were supposed to get it and had killed it (sadly, they have a history of thinking cats are intruders).  So I run outside ready to give them the what-for as D comes running back in. 

I say..."what happened" and he runs to the kitchen window and says "that happened! I just stepped on a big bull snake!"  Sure enough, right next to our sidewalk, right between the 2 porches, so about 15-20ft from either door is a big old bull snake and he is coiled up and he is MAD!  Apparently Roo was the only one brave enough to get anywhere near it and he confused D because he was barking at the door, not the snake, probably watching for one of us to come out, so D wasn't even looking at the ground when he went out, he was looking at the porch! 

D ALWAYS makes fun of me about my hatred for snakes (I told him once "hey, it's a natural human fear, they are the devil, it says so right in the bible" so now he quotes that to me all the time!). 

So, I said, are you gonna go kill it before it gets away?!  He yells at me "I NEED a minute!"  It was hilarious!  So, eventually he goes out, and from the porch, he stretches out like as far as he can and chops its head off with a shovel.  At this point I realized I should have taken a pic of the snake (maybe out the window) before he killed it and I didn't wanna post a pic of a headless snake so, there ya go, no pic.

Moral of the story, don't underestimate Roo and don't overestimate the bravery of a pack of "big, tough" cowdogs!