I was giving the greenhouse plants a quick watering when I found myself eye to eye with a young blacksnake enjoying the sun. I always know that there may be a snake around--but this wasn't the six-footer I usually see.
I went and got my camera and when I came back, he/she was poised to strike at a daddy-long-legs almost invisible against the white wall. Great, I thought, watching the shiny forked tongue flick in and out, and got myself poised to catch the action. And waited . . .
And waited. Snake stayed frozen in place, like patience on a monument. Hmm, I thought, lowering the camera, just in time to miss the flicking tongue. Well, At least I can get a picture of the tongue action. I tried for fifteen or twenty minutes. Snake did not cooperate while I was aiming the camera but (and I swear this happened a dozen times) as soon as I would lower the camera, out would come the tongue. As time went on, the tongue action (while the camera was down) began to look like taunting, not just a quick flick in and out but waving around like a hula dancer's hips. And I could almost believe that snake was grinning. Snake:1 Vicki:0
