Would YOU go for a Gopher Snake?

One of the joys of living in the desert is the wildlife . . .
Seth almost ran over this snake near our home the other day.  It was at least 5 feet long and luckily pretty slow-moving because it wasn't too hot yet.  And thank goodness we live next to a reptile enthusiast!  We quickly called Dan George and he came and got the snake for us, telling us it was just a gopher snake (just a gopher snake . . . ).

As I took a picture of the boys in front of the snake, Dan offered to pull it out for a better shot.  He thought it would be funny to let Jacob try it on, and you should have seen the poor boy's face!  He was mortified and ran off screaming, "That was NOT FUNNY!  I WON'T EVER EVER DO THAT AGAIN!"  

I can't say that I blame him, even though Grandpa Juan tried to instill a love of snakes in his grandkids.  I think I found too many of them wrapped around the tomato sauce cans in our storage room and chopped up too many with the lawnmower . . .