Snake

If snakes give you the "willies", stop reading.  But this one is harmless and eats only mice and moles...

So I went out to get my mail today, and saw this sitting on the driveway.  I looked at it for a while.  I wasn't sure if it was alive or not.  I mean, it was "LUMPY".

While I was looking at it, a guy drove past and then backed up and got out of his car with a camera.  We considered it.  I said it wasn't dangerous because it wasn't a viper.  I thought it is a black snake.  He said he just kills any snake he sees and I said they are rather beneficial (though I sure wouldn't want to step in on by surprise).  Even non-venomous snakes have teeth.

But it wasn't moving and it looked odd (lumpy).  The other guy said, he didn't think it was dead becuase its head was up (that was a really good observation I had missed).

So after taking a couple pictures each, I tapped its tail with my newspaper .  It twitched!  After another tap, it started slithering away, and went up a TREE! 

I was working under a tree once and felt a slight stinky spray.  I looked around and saw nothing.  Then a snake (just like this one) fell onto the ground right next to me.  HEY, IT PEED ON ME!

But I just shoved it with my boot and watched it slither away.  Well, it was no threat to the cats or me, so I admired it.  Snakes are fascinating.  There are few creatures who have completely unique ways of moving around.  Bipedal humans, kangaroos, and snakes...

Here is the snake climbing up in a small tree...

It wasn't there 15 minutes later, so I suppose it was a lot more worried about ME than I was of it.

May it catch many mice and moles...   Live long and eat well, black snake!