more dead snakes......

ok, so yesterday, when i was dealing with my second truckoad of mulch...i stepped back from the truck to get a better angle when shoveling the dark brown material into the wheelbarrow.....only for my shoes to come down......on a tiny, but very dead snake........i will admit to a bit of knee-jerk jumping back and screaming.......mostly for the snakes striping pattern.....not lengthwise.....as in garter snakes.....but circular....in red and yellow with black in between......and though i do not believe coral snakes to live sround here, it surely looked like one to me, or so it did at first glance.......i suppose it was in the driveway when i maneuvered the heavy load in through the gates and behind the empty garage bay.......for it looked a tad flattened.......of course...when i went to find a witness to this dead curiousity......it was no longer there when my middle child returned with me......yeah right, mom....there was a coral snake.....that is not what he said......he didn;t actually say anything......he merely shook his head as if i was an errant teller of tales and this is the least of what he should expect.......but later on...over my mother's birthday chicken breast grill-out.......there it was back.....my mother supposed that one of the dogs had been playing with it.....and lost interest right about where i had last seen it......the neighbor who is a naturalist was called in.......he believes that it was a hatchling....fresh from the egg....of an eastern milk snake.......nonpoisonous........and much bigger at maturity.....which means that there are more of those little buggers out there.......growing minute by minute because they had not the misfortune as to venture into my driveway........i have 1.5 days of labor left to get ready for this graduation party.....must get busy.........fortunately, the remaining work does not involve the yard....and should be snake-free........