I was rooting around a trash pile near the wood shed and came across this beauty.



I don't know what he is (except about 7 ft. long). The blunt snout and lack of coppery sheen on the head tells me what he isn't, so I'm happy to have him around. Last year we'd see rabbits hanging out around that part of the yard every evening, this year not so much. If you come across any friends of his grab your camera, not your gun.

I saw a black snake yesterday in the greenhouse. They are great to have around.

We don't get these patterned black rat snakes here in VA (ours are just black -- except underneath) but that's what it looks like to me. If so excellent snake to have. Not very nippy and usually will calm down pretty well. Looks pretty big as well.

It looks like a second snake is in the picture. If you look above the rebar in the right 1/3 of the photo there is what's probably a stick that looks a lot like a snake -- as a lot of sticks do.