Medical Alert: Discussion of Snakes in this Post

I am a responsible blogger and a good friend. I know my friend Sharon never wants to be reading along and suddenly find herself up to her eyeballs in snake photos, snake descriptions, snake songs, snake poetry, or snake drawings. That is why the medical alert is prominently displayed today. I do not want to be responsible for Sharon's herpetological break down.

Yesterday was the first warm day for several weeks. My daughter and I were coming home from Dover about 3 pm, and snakes were crossing the road every few miles. Most of them were small. They must have hatched this summer and were desperately on the hunt for food and warmth before their impending hibernation. I have never seen so many snakes in one day, ever. We had been meditating most of the day, so the doors of perception were wide open, too. I continually got glimpses of the prairies crawling with snakes in my mind's eye. It was not a good thing. I need to talk to the instructor about this possible side effect of meditation.

Close to my house we came across one of the big prairie snakes crossing the road. I stopped to allow it safe passage. These snakes eat a lot of mice and rats, so they are worth their weight in gold... in the wild... far, far away from me. It was either a prairie king snake, as pictured here. http://www.gpnc.org/pkingsnake.htm or a great plains rat snake pictured here http://www.gpnc.org/gpratsnake.htm . Based only on these photos, I have a difficult time correctly identifying them. They look so similar.

As I was driving away from my daughter's house, there was even a baby snake in the street. He was not moving so I was not certain he was alive. To get a closer look, I got out of the truck. He was alive. Even though he was harmless, even kind of cute for a snake, when he moved, I instantly astral projected back into the truck, another possible side effect I should discuss with the instructor.