Happy Caturday: orange cat slept a lot and had an encounter with a big snake.

I arrived at the countryside a bit late in the evening as the train had been delayed along its journey. It was a relief to be back at the house surrounded by big trees with loving orange cat. We used to have two cats, but the bigger one has moved to the neighbour’s house though he came to visit us from time to time. So, I found the smaller orange cat crying for attention while hiding under the chair on the ground floor. I had to talk to her nicely and waited for her to come up to me by herself. I had to spend at least ten minutes with Kwan to make up for my long absence.

Kwan has become a very self-reliant cat with more emotional independence than before. She used to cry out for her brother, Joan, everyday. This year, Kwan had stopped crying around the house for hours, she has found her self-confidence and her strength to be alone at night. However, Joan has started to drop by our house once or twice a week to have some food. Kwan was very glad to see her brother and would lick him with affection.

I was glad the two orange cats weren’t becoming strangers. But Joan would stay for a few hours, he would go out hunting in the night. So, it was very difficult to see the two cats sleeping together like in the past. They had their own favourite spots for napping in the afternoon. Joan would be sleeping under my bed where it’s rather cool and dark. Kwan still liked to sleep in the table and sometimes in the shrine room.

I noticed Joan has become older on his personality and his attitude. He seemed like a gentleman with good manners and very strong independent streak. He seemed aloof at times as he coolly walked in to the dark fields. He has become a bit like wild cat. On the other hand, Kwan has become very smart as she could understand my language and often responded to my questions. She’s very gentle and considerate, she wouldn’t cry out for help when an aggressive stray cat chased her on to the railing.

I found the aggressive intruder sitting on the mat in front of my door while Kwan was sitting on the balustrades. I had to chase this aggressive cat away so Kwan could move around freely. The stray cat often finished the cat food in the small bowl downstairs. I was glad that Joan dropped by yesterday. Kwan was very happy to have a playmate at night. It was so good to see the two cats sitting together on the front yard. I hoped that Joan would visit us every other day.

In the morning, I was surprised that Kwan didn’t respond to my calling for breakfast. I looked around and noticed her behaving very oddly. She seemed to be afraid of something. So, I looked around for the aggressive stray cat, but I saw a big snake sunbathing in front of the house, very close to the staircase. No wonder Kwan felt intimidated and couldn’t walk upstairs with that snake in her way.

I had never encountered such a big snake before, it’s a very colorful snake with big size. He’s a full grown adult snake almost two meters long. I had no idea how to deal with this situation. I couldn’t phone someone to catch the snake for me. I was afraid that Kwan would engage this heavy and big snake. But I could notice Kwan was very frightened by this snake so she kept her distance. I suspected that she tried to ‘play’ with this snake earlier, but she encountered a fierce response. I told Kwan to stay away from the big snake.

I took my long bamboo pole and walked towards the snake. I didn’t want to antagonise this snake with bamboo pole. So, I went for the hose and squirted water at the snake. He was having a good time sunbathing in early morning sunshine. I was shocked by his reaction. He was very angry and turned towards me in a flash with his raised head swinging ready to pounce one me. I was only two meters away from him so I was an easy target. I suddenly dropped the water hose in shock by his fast defensive reaction. This was the first snake which reacted very aggressively towards me.

As soon as he looked at my face, he decided to turn around and slithered through the grass on the lawn. I wondered why he left me in peace and departed easily. I ran after him to see which way he was going. I didn’t want him to climb up the tree and I had to make sure he left the lawn. I saw him half way down the lawn, he didn’t climb the tree. We had a small snake flying from the tree through the opened window once! It was quite small so I could easily catch him and sent him onto the lawn. But this full grown snake would be too powerful for me to handle.

I used my long bamboo pole to hit the rocks and make noises to frightened him off. I didn’t see him going towards front gate. So, I presumed he went to the bamboo groves next door. Meanwhile Kwan was very frightened to see the fierce reaction of this snake. I did some research later to find out that he’s a Copperhead Racer snake. This snake is very aggressive and would raise its head and use its body like a spring to attack its enemy. But it isn’t a venomous snake and he hunts for field mice and frogs. I was lucky to be able to take some photos while he was sunbathing. That’s a really beautiful snake with lots of power and some compassion for a silly person like me. I thought that water could frightened a snake away. Perhaps I could chase cats away with water hose, but not with aggressive snake like him. I wondered why he let go of me so easily. Perhaps my guardian angels were telling him to go in peace.

I noticed that Kwan was very fearful and frozen the whole afternoon. She wouldn’t go on the lawn and just kept herself under some cover. It took her ages to start moving around and came up the stairs. She sniffed around the area where the snake was sunbathing in the morning. She went to hide in the shrine room and slept all afternoon. I went to check the big trees to make certain the snake wasn’t hiding up there. I also checked the lawn to see the snake wasn’t hiding under the grass or bushes. There’s too much excitement in one day, and I still had two repairing jobs on the list. Hopefully that big snake wouldn’t return to do sunbathing here again.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.