Who Lives Here? What'd She Eat? Did It Taste Real Good?

As I stepped off the stone steps into my yard to fill the birdbath, I saw this tableau and it told a mystery story. Something had dug a three-inch-wide hole (measured it) beneath the bottom step. It wasn't there yesterday. Whoever this hole-dweller was, he or she was not in sight. But he or she got hold of an egg -- just one, and plain white without identifying markings (I scrubbed the mud off a piece of shell, using an old toothbrush, just to check) -- and had opened and eaten it. Or, less likely, maybe something had hatched here. Eggshell reassembled provided no more clues.

The prime suspect is the large blacksnake who winters beneath my kitchen floor and eats mice. Saw her earlier this spring, sidewinding toward the house then disappearing beneath it, smooth as liquid, right by the kitchen door. Turned up one of her silver babies when digging nearby in order to plant annuals. I know my blacksnake savors eggs. Once I followed a mess of turkey-egg shells to a nest my blacksnake had cleaned out entirely. She was still there and let me take her picture. But if this time it was my snake or any other (because, three years ago, I saw a milk snake curled around the flagstones right here) how did it carry the egg from the nest to its door? In its mouth? Why didn't it dine where the egg was found?

For sure: It must've tasted real good.

I'm Comin' Out: Animals

Sighted this past week in the yard for the first time this season:

• 5-foot blacksnake (familiar; spends winter under the kitchen floor)
• Bunnies. I met one this morning that ran TOWARD me. I stopped and asked if it had a message for me. It didn't. I then asked for a bunny blessing, because, as you know, rabbits are divine.
  
• Miss Turkey, about to come into the yard for some fallen birdseed. I accidentally made a noise and scared her away.
  
• Turtles. Crossin' the road as usual. The young turtles are looking to set up their own territories.
• Fireflies. I would love to be able to make a video that would show you how my whole yard looks at night: like a universe of stars.
  

Snake in the Bathroom

I moved here to live with the strange and pure forces of nature. Last night turned on the bathroom light and there's a blacksnake, about 7" long, sidewinding across the linoleum. Golly. Unexpected. I chose not to pick it up and take it outside. Who knows, it is young and may have been exploring all its options. This morning it's gone.

Worms & things like millipedes, caterpillars, crickets, and ants crawl in beneath my kitchen door because it's old and off kilter, and the bathroom's right near there, but outdoors is so wonderful now I can't imagine what the snake wanted in the house. (During drought periods, lizards & things will come inside looking for water.)

World's Finest Milk Snake

Nice to be on vacation and take time to look down at my feet and see almost between them this exceptionally fine milk snake who agreed to pose for a picture. Approximately 20 inches long. They aren't usually out during the daytime, so it was doing me a favor.