Crikey!

Some excitement for the lunchtime hour today. I went out and grabbed some Boston Market, and when I got back Pat and I were going to go up to our little "outdoor cafe spot":http://feralboy.textamerica.com/default.asp?r=15904 behind the building. I approached Pat, who was smoking by his car. bq.. "We might want to eat indoors today." "Oh, why's that?" "Well, because it looks like it might rain, and there's a 4 foot snake up there."

p. Wanting to see for myself, we hiked up and took a peek. Sure enough, there was a "good-sized":http://feralboy.textamerica.com/default.asp?r=27592 "snake":http://feralboy.textamerica.com/default.asp?r=27587 with a "banded pattern":http://feralboy.textamerica.com/default.asp?r=27571 lounging right next to the concrete patio. I crouched in close, and took several "bad":http://feralboy.textamerica.com/default.asp?r=27683 "pictures":http://feralboy.textamerica.com/default.asp?r=27576 with the phonecam (I _knew_ I should have taken the "regular camera":http://feralboy.com/log/archives/000192/ to work today). As I was leaving, I figured I should at least reach out and touch the thing, so I stroked ol' stripey right near its tail. That woke him up, and he contracted himself into a semi-ready "S" shape. Also, his tail started to vibrate, but because he only had a weird and "small knob":http://feralboy.textamerica.com/default.asp?r=27684 on his tail, and didn't have a "diamond-shaped head":http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/jphealy/butterflycanyon/images/rattlesnake.jpg, I knew it wasn't a rattlesnake.

Figured I had tried my luck enough, we went inside to figure out what the heck it was. Turns out after some quick "Googling":http://www.google.com/search?q=copperhead+pennsylvania that it was a "Northern Copperhead":http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/Fish_Boat/copprhe.htm. Poisonous and all that. I obviously was not cut out to be a "bike mechanic":http://feralboy.com/log/archives/000269/ or an animal trainer, so I'll just stick to programming, eh?

_(Thanks to Pat for the lovely picture.)_