SNAKE! WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS POST IF PICTURES OF HARMLESS SNAKES SCARE YOU

Miss M and Mr. Big Food arrived home this afternoon-- Kat & Tony were still in the City of Starkvegas, Daughter C and her entourage had departed early this morning. Miss M and Mr. Big Food commenced the kitchen debriefings (what I need to know about their respective days) and we fell back into our routine.

I tied Missy out. Miss M desired to smoke a cigarette on the patio and was moving toward satisfying that desire.

And then, as Miss M tells the story, she screamed, "Holy s&*%! We're all going to die!"

I did not actually hear her scream that, but I did hear a summons, "MOM!"  And I did hear Mr. Big Food call out, "Marica! You gotta see this."

What's a curious person to do? I gotta see it.

It's not a stick.

Thanks to Daughter C for providing the scale.

Here, Miss M brought Missy inside. We are a responsible lot. Better safe than sorry.

We watched it for a while,

tried to take some detailed photos,

and decided that it was a grey rat snake. A good guy.

Until it decided to slither vertically up behind the exterior walls of the bunkhouse.

I ended my evening speckling a mouse-sized hole in Miss M's room. As recent events have warned, you can never be too cautious about the behavior of the underbelly of nature.

My guess is that even a stupid snake can follow up on its desire to not be behind exterior walls. So I'm guessing the damned thing will figure out how to get out. But I'm not a snake.

What do I know?