An Unexpected Visitor

It was a beautiful, cool morning and half awake I stumbled along to get my morning feeding and watering chores done when I spied something out of the corner of my eye. Something long and colorful, slithering across the ground. I froze and stared, making sure there wasn't a rattle...

The tips of my toes are at the bottom of the
picture to give you an idea of how long this
snake is.

So, much to my mother's un-surprise I'm sure, I just had to reach down and gently pick up that three foot long kingsnake and check it out. When I was a teen I had one like it that a friend no longer wanted, so I knew what it was.

The snake was very shiny as if it had recently shed its skin. The colors were bright and it didn't seem to mind at all that it had been temporarily abducted.

The goats watched on in curiosity as I transferred the snake from one hand to the next and finally went and sat down for a while to admire it.

We have a lot of critters on the land, but this was the first snake I'd seen. In the morning, a whole bunch of lizards come out while the sun is coming up and the ground is starting to warm. At night we have little bats and we sit in a row and wtach them catching bugs across the starlit sky.

I figured my kids would really want to see this snake and keep it, so I took pictures and then promptly let it go back to its business. A snake is a handy pest hunter to have around. Besides, the last thing I need is another scaly pet at home...