As I got into my car to leave for work this evening, I noticed something crawling on the floor of the passenger side. It was then that I realized that they hadn't shorted me a mouse at the pet store. It had somehow managed to escape from the bag, leaving the four other mice behind. I thought for a brief moment that I should reward the little rodent for it's cleverness, but then remembered the hungry King snake. This in turn reminds me of an earlier King snake incident, involving a different snake...

On Saturday, I took the boys on a hike. We took a loop trail, upon which we found a beautiful King snake - it was chocolate brown with white bands, and was only a little irritated at being caught. It broadcast this irritation by vibrating its tail, which can sound a bit like a rattlesnake if done on dry leaves. The boys both held it, and then we watched it slide over the edge of the trail and disappear beyond a fold of land. There's nothing quite like the gracefulness of a snake in its natural habitat.

A bit later, Nate spotted a chipmunk. He's proud of that. Later, when some kids hiked past us, Lexy not-so-subtly boasted about the snake we had found. I think it's safe to say that a good time was had by all.

Tonight, I saw a whole family of skunks, with the little ones all following behind their mother.

cds I listened to while having only 10 more delivery days left: Manilla Road "Spiral Castle", Cowboy Junkies "Open", Bondage Fruit III "Recit", Ex-Girl "Luna Rose", Akasau "s/t", Bathory "Hammerheart", and Current 93 "Sleep Has His House"