R.I.P. Todd

When we go on an outing I never know exactly what the kids will find.  Today  the school age kids and I ventured to the elementary school playground.  At one point a couple kids were examining something laying on the ground.  From a distance I could tell it was a snake.  Knowing that a rattlesnake was found in the area a couple years back I was concerned.   It was definitely a snake, but thank goodness only a garter snake.

 Soon all 9 kids were huddled around the snake. Some children threw rocks at it. Others threw a ball. While "J" was insisting that "It's one of God's Creatures. You can't hurt it!"

Unfortunately for "J" the snake was injured from all the things being thrown at it.  They could see it begin to bleed (or some kind of fluid coming from it's body).  "C" wanted me to put a bandaid from our first aid kit on him.  I told him I didn't think it would help. He said that the snake's mommy and daddy would give him a bandaid.

As we observed the snake he opened his mouth and put out his tongue.  The debate over whether the snake had teeth or not ensued.   This led to a discussion on the color of the snake's tongue.  Some children were sure that the tongue would turn from pink to black when it was going to strike. ( I have yet to find any information on the internet to back up that claim.).   

After much coaxing I convinced them to leave the snake alone for while.  They went back to playing.  Before too long I looked over and they were carrying the snake by his tail. He was dead.  They HAD to bury him.
Since we didn't have any shovels the kids did the next best thing:

Once they had a hole the snake was put in :

They placed a stick for a marker and picked flowers to decorate the grave:

 "A" asked for a moment of silence and then he made the Sign of  the Cross.
They decided his name was Todd.

R.I.P. Todd