Old Ben

I wanted to share the story of Old Ben and some pics of him.   He had been on a farm for a while, he started out coming in the house to visit my grandparents.  Their house was old and had crack and holes that old Ben could come up through in the house.  We would find him in the bathroom and a couple of times on the curtain rod over the kitchen sink window.  I'm sure he was looking for mice or rats.  One of the problems of living on a farm and putting out feed, it brings in mice and rats. When I see harmless snakes, I let them go, that way they can help keep down the mice and rat population.  We haven't seen old Ben the last couple of  years, not sure if he is just hiding good or if he was killed or just died.  We would see him a lot around the barn, all stretched out.  

One day, I was over at the barn, and I found him enjoying one of my eggs.  I like to leave the black snakes on the farm, I have always heard they would keep venomous snakes away.  I have lived on the farm 44 years now, and I have never seen a venomous snake on the farm.  I would like to keep it  that way.  I named him Old Ben after the black snake in Jesse Stuarts book Old Ben.  If you have never read the book  or any of Jesse Stuarts books, I would highly recommend reading his books.