Insert Politician Joke Here

I was relaxing on the porch with Sugar, watching in amazement as two young squirrels came up close to the porch for some corn, completely unafraid of us. Sugar was standing at the rail, about five feet away, still as a statue, just watching. Eventually they had their fill, and scampered off. Kevin was inside, watching all of this through the front window.

I was walking towards the door to go in, and was just about to reach down to pick up my watering can and trowel. I saw it at the same moment Kevin said it - "Snake!"

He was four feet long or more, and had slithered up the front steps while Sugar and I were watching the squirrels. The funny thing is - I have a horrible fear of ticks, as well as wasps, bees, and the like. I will freak out if I find a tick on me, and run away from bees. When I saw this snake, Kevin was all ready to comfort me, asking, "Are you ok?"

My response was, "Yes! I've got to go get my camera!"

Kevin thinks I'm weird. He may be right. :)

This is a black racer, and they're pretty common around here. They're not venomous, and not aggressive. In fact, they're usually very afraid of humans, and will take off really fast when they encounter one of us. For some reason, this one was absolutely still. I was moving all around him, trying to get pictures at every angle (and pretty close, even though I had a zoom), and he stayed put. I wanted a picture of his forked tongue, but he wouldn't cooperate.