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A blog entry from September 20, 2009

CONNIE'S LAUNDRY (More exciting than just dirty clothes)


Okay, so I know you want to hear about my exciting time of washing my clothes yesterday!  I am using Lisa's washing machine which is across the street and around her side of the duplex and in an outside porch outside her back door.  Mine has been broken for months and after having 2 Malawian guys look at it and charge big money, and at best say not sure and at worst make it worse, I've decided to keep praying for a Maytag repairman.  (Two guys from one team and an electrician from another have looked at it, but it just needs someone who knows what he/she is doing.)  ANYWAY, I had been doing the weeks' washing and still had a few loads to do last night.  After dinner (so it's dark) I decided to go get another load going.  I took my basket and off i went.  I was going around the house, they have a spot that is dug up (maybe they're working on the sewer) by that side of the house so I was walking right next to the house outside of the flower bed.  I heard a loud rustle that I was sure was the cat.  After I had taken a few steps (thankfully), I looked back to see what it was...a hooded cobra was swaying and it's glowing red eyes were thinking devilish thoughts straight at me!  I gave a little gasp..and ducked into the laundry room where I went on auto pilot taking my wash out of the washer and putting more in thinking "there's a cobra right outside there....." 

I couldn't wait to get out of there and tell everyone and at the same time I was a little frightened to go back out because I wasn't sure where it was now!  It was probably a spitting cobra...yeah for glasses!  They aim for the eyes and if it hits you in the eyes, it's blinding...I grabbed my laundry basket, crept to the door, peeked out, didn't see it, so hugged the outside of the laundry room and skirted the area all the while FREAKING OUT because the area is not well-lit and I had to walk in the grass! 

When I got back over to the house, I told Kelly.  He grabbed a flashlight and a student guard and went back to look for it.  (Can you believe it?  He hates snakes too!)  We did not want it to get away worse than we didn't want to see it again, if you know what I mean.  It was stretched out about a meter from  the laundry room door I had just exited, right in front of Lisa's back door.  They shined a light on it and it swayed at them too, that is sooo freaky!  They tried to decide what to do and the snake went towards a hole that leads toward the sewer. 

Meanwhile, I had gone to our new neighbor's house and asked if they wanted another African experience.  James grew  up in Nigeria, so he was grabbing his machete and putting his shoes on.  His son was as thrilled as Shea when I told him.  (Both boys grabbed BB or pellet guns and came a runnin'!)  We girls stayed in the front and talked.  Emily Ketchum came driving up around then.  (She and her husband, Josh, live in the other side of the duplex.)  I told her, she freaked out and texted her husband who was with Bob Stauffacher (crazy man).  They texted back, "We're comin!"  and they charged up the hill in William's old truck (Stauff's have it now) to the rescue!  They pulled kind of into the back so that their headlights helped light the area a bit. 

Well, we went into Lisa's house and ran water down the drains trying to flush the snake out...but the long and the short of it is that we didn't see it again.  Maybe it's dead.  Maybe it isn't.  Maybe it has some relatives nearby.  Maybe it doesn't.  Maybe I won't be doing my laundry in the dark....Yeah, that's a for sure!!  Also, I will be watching where I walk and next to what bushy things... when I do my wash in the daylight.  ACK!!  I was inches from that cobra...later when we were looking for him, we found a dead "frozen frog" right by where I walked.  So they think the cobra had him...instead of me....thank You, Lord!!

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2 Comments

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#1 jessica Robson

....you really need a new washer!!

#2 Julie Mitchell

Oh Connie...that sounds so scary! Too bad Dan Linsz wasn't there with his spear (since he killed a spitting cobra with it while we were there). And to think I sometimes get a little nervous going into my basement because there might be a spider or a cricket!

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