Alright, it might not be the best picture but its the best one Aisling got because I kept trying to stop her from standing on top of the dang thing.

This little guy showed up in the late afternoon yesterday and looked like he (or she?) was getting pretty comfortable on top of a pile of leaves and random yard mulch that I was hoping to turn in to a compost mix of some sort.

We’re pretty sure its just a common garter or garden snake, but they can still deliver annoying bites and bad smells so I don’t exactly want to leave the welcome mat out.  For now, that means losing out on a lot of the mulch and dried up plant matter that was going in the compost, but hopefully the loss of the perfect snake hill will scatter him back off to the edges of the yard.

We haven’t seen any owls since the hard freeze when one came knocking at our window at midnight, and maybe that’s why the snakes are surviving in to older age!  It might even be time for an outdoor cat if the owls don’t fly back soon…