I found a Ringneck snake at Hidden Villa today, but it slipped through my fingers and vanished into the woodpile. They're so small and quick that if you miss them on the first try you had better just give up. I remember once as a child putting a pet Ringneck snake down on a lawn and actually losing it after it wriggled down into the sod. Such is life. I did catch a Jerusalem cricket, a California newt, and a Slender salamander though.

If I was superstitious, I would have been bothered by the black cat who seemed to be waiting for me to drive closer before dashing in front of me. In my rearview mirror I saw him do a frantic, tail-spinning arc on the lawn fronting a business complex and dash back across the road to his original starting point. Perhaps he was just having fun. Maybe there were other cats waiting somewhere out of sight egging him on - "betcha can't run right in front of a car. What are ya? Chicken? buckbuckbuck..."

Willow is now nearly eight pounds.

cds I listened to while slowing for cats: Venom "Cast in Stone" and "In Memorium", Sigillum S "Heteromorphonicks", Backworld "The Orchids/Flowers in Flame", Iugula-Thor "Forced Flesh", and Six Organs of Admittance "Dust and Chimes"