Mr. Green, on the patio, with his fangs.....

Well, the two police officers just left the house. Police Officers? Were you vandalized? No, we were merely held captive by a MOJAVE GREEN RATTLESNAKE. Holy Moly! I know, it begs the obvious question - why police officers? Well, our town is kind of, hmmm, small and the Animal Control folks were already off for the night. The police officers actually carried it off into the desert (I said, "Nate aren't they worried about the other ones out there?" Everyday heroism as far as I'm concerned!) and shot it with a .......crowd-control bean bag at close range. Don't laugh - I'm serious. It makes you wonder about being in the controlled-crowd.

The snake story is this...
Nate was working on the sprinkler system in the front yard. He came in to tell me about it and then was getting ready to walk back out. He opened the front door and then the security door and heard the "something." As he was looking around to see what it was, it registered with him that the "something" was a rattle that belonged to the snake writhing around less than 2 feet from the front door. He did a little jig in the air as he quickly closed both doors. Talk about some adrenaline. I didn't even happen to me and I'm still revved up as I type.
It turns out that the snake was looking for a cool place and he found it on the patch of patio next to a potted plant recently watered by yours truly. I guess I'll be going with more hardscape on the patio and less living things requiring water. The living things that require watering attract other living things that require watering. I actually had watered the potted plant by hand because the drip line to it had been chewed by some living thing requiring water - probably my arch nemesis - "the bunny".

Just another day on the edge of civilization..... (please don't let this influence any plans to visit us - I take it all back. It wasn't a big deal. It was the adrenaline talking.)