Elvis is in the building

We met a new friend yesterday.  Well, Reece did.  He nearly fell on this big guy while playing baseball in the pasture.  He was hanging out in our yard about 20 feet from the garden.   

Apparently, he liked us so much he came back again today.  We always take opportunities like this and have impromptu science lessons.  We think this is a Prairie King snake, which is a great snake to have around.  Apparently, they eat venomous snakes and play an important role in curbing the rodent pest population.  If I am wrong about this and he is not a king snake, please tell me so I can go kill it.

Dad affectionately named him Elvis, the King.

He was a really long snake.

I don't know if this city girl will ever get used to seeing snakes in the yard.

What I Did Today by Reece Chiasson

Buddy and I went outside hunting.  I was running back and forth trying to catch him.  I soon got tired so I stopped for a minute.  He ran down to the pond.  I went after him and stumbled on a few rocks. He got in front of me.

I saw a brier patch.  I must have looked in a snake hole that I thought was a rabbit home.  I looked in it and then I heard a hiss from above the hole.  I saw a snake sitting there curled up!!!  Then I backed up slowly and looked up and saw Buddy on a rabbit's tail.  I saw Peyton running towards the snake and she stepped on it's tail!!  She was very lucky it did not bite her.

She ran over to me not knowing what was going on.  We walked back to the house and saw Mom standing by the porch.  We told her about the snake.  Mom went to grab her camera and we went back to find the snake.  Once we found it, she took a picture of it.

We went back inside to look up the snake to see what kind it was.  We found out that it was an Eastern Garter Snake.  Next time, I will be more careful.