Neatest Thing in Nature

The first thing that comes to mind is when we were hiking in the Smokies. My husband noticed a snake coming out of a tree stump with a mouse in his mouth. We watched him eat dinner (it had to be a "him" because his table manners were disgusting!) I have seen snakes eat in captivity but never out in the wild. This fascinated me but totally grossed out my hubby who is terrified of snakes ever since he was bit by a copperhead.

The other thing is more like a complete crash of nature with humanity. We were camping one night in the Smokies and the weather was beautiful. I went to bed around 10pm but my hubby wanted to enjoy the campfire a little longer. My hubby was sitting in those canvas lawn chairs that have cup holders in the arms so he put his beer can in the holder and ended up falling asleep. I am awakened by this awful screaming by my hubby AND something else. I fumbled with the zipper on the tent expecting to find my husband eaten by some grizzley bear or mountain lion (neither of which are found in the Smokies). I scramble out of the tent and see a black bear running in one direction and my hubby running in the other. After calming hubby down, I finally get the scoop. Since my hubby was asleep and not moving, the bear didn't realize there was a person in the chair and sneaked up to get the beer can. About the time he did, my hubby snored which scared the bear and caused the bear to scream. The snore and the bear scream woke my hubby up who then proceeded to scream along with the bear. I laughed so hard I was rolling in the dirt. Obviously we didn't get any sleep that night because hubby was scared to death and I was laughing every 5 min. when I thought about the whole scene. I still can't help laughing when I think of this!

By the way, both events happened at the same campground but in different years. Too bad I couldn't get any pictures of this because they would be priceless! Oh, by the way, we don't visit that campground very much anymore.