All Sheep Go To Heaven

I hope. Flower joined Bethany, and I'm actually relieved. It was rough seeing her breathing hard, and not able to open her poor little mouth, or the rattle of her esophagus when she swallowed, or the flies, or the blood dripping from her chest. Maybe we should have put her out of her misery sooner, but I don't think I could ever purposely kill something. Poor little thing. Yesterday afternoon before I left my parents house, I went to say goodbye. I pet her and said a little prayer that she'd be able to be relieved from her suffering. I told her it was ok to go. And she went.
She was preceded in death by her half-brother, Tiny Tim. Remember Tim? He was the little disabled lamb the mother rejected back in April of '08 (I only remember this because I named him after my friend Tim Heaton, because Tiny was born on Tim's birthday). I thought about Tim today-- the first in a long time. He was such a little spaz, always nosing me in the back of the knee, looking for some milk. He was also bald, which I'd never seen in a sheep before. His little head used to get so sun burnt. I was really relieved when he went on to a better place as well. I guess sheep are kind of easy to love.
Snakes, however, are not. Last night, I got home late and was happy to change into my jimmy jams and settle in to relax (note: watching "The Other Sister" may not be the best way to chill out). Anyway, I was straightening the house and found some things I wanted to recycle, so I took them to their bins in my garage. No biggie, until I saw this HUGE yellow snake under my car. I yelled and jumped (I was barefoot!) and the snake reared back and looked like it was gonna snap at me, even though it was probably harmless. I ran into my house and couldn't bear to go out to chase it away.
Well, I didn't sleep so well last night. I probably woke up every hour on the hour, until I finally got up, put on my galoshes (which was not the best look-- picture baggy pajama pants in black and pink polka dot tucked into green polka dot galoshes, all with a black and grey t-shirt... I kind of looked like a Cossack, but there wasn't any dancing going on). I ran into the garage, slamming the house door behind me so as not to let little Lucifer in. I opened the garage door and grabbed a push broom so I could defend myself in an attack. But no snake. So it's even worse now, because I don't know if he left, of if he's hiding, waiting to attack me when I leave my parents' house this evening. Still, I have to face the facts soon, and I have to go home. My house is a wreck (well, not a wreck, but certainly not up to my cleanliness standards) and my mom spent the whole family dinner telling me how awful I looked from lack of sleep. Never a good thing to have your mom, who by law must think you're pretty, tell you that you've seen better days. Oh where oh where is my Diet Coke with Lime? I simply can't go to sleep at 7 p.m., even though I want to.