Again, the dryer stopped working and the laundry was still wet. Why? I don't know because when it stopped on its own, it also began again on its own.

Oh well, I continued washing dishes as a storm-forecasting breeze came through the window. A rustling noise made me perk up and look around, surely the storm wasn't close yet. Nothing unusual caught my eye.
My husband was rocking our baby boy to sleep in the next room as I tried to hurry cleaning up the kitchen after a long day of celebrating a birthday.
The temperamental dryer had started up again and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Startled by a strange slithering sound that seemed to come from under the open window, I saw it!
Under the table, slithering slowly, was a long, fat snake. I jumped onto the counter, ( I was a city girl turned farm wife.) I called to my husband in a loud whisper, "Honey, come quick!"
His reply, " Shh, he's almost asleep."
"There's a snake under the table," this time I was shouting and I could feel his anger because I woke the little one.
Coming into the kitchen, my wonderful husband said, "There's no damn snake in here. Get off the counter."
I pointed to the culprit. Handing me our little boy, he went into action and caught the snake with a broom handle.

The mystery of the dryer was solved when the snake dilemma was taken care of. For a long time, that snake had been inside the dryer coiled around something that didn't harm it but caused the dryer to stop when it moved.
It was an eventful evening that ended well as our little one saw his first snake.