My (im)patience for your NYC photos was rewarded...this too is marvelous. I'm curious, though. Our local museum doesn't allow cameras...or at least once years ago I took a camera in and was admonished ...I was the only visitor, the exhibit was of fabric collages, and after assuring the docent I didn't intend to publish, just for my own later enjoyment/study, I was allowed to continue. Perhaps they felt the flash would have been distracting or perhaps the artist had specified no cameras. Anyway, I'm glad you had no such restrictions. josh

I'm a wuzz when it comes to going out in the dark and seeing big green eyes staring at me from the fence and critters scurring around. Every friday morning, before 6am, I take the trash cans out to the curb. DH put in a couple of flood lights to the back patio, with a switch inside the house, and a couple of sensor flood lights on the side patio, leading to the trash cans. The neighbor's sensor flood lights turn on once I reach the back gate and light up the drive way. I'm glad to see daylight before 6am, and I mark it on my calendar.

Snakes have territories just like any other living creatures. They do not congregate. I agree with the other poster who said that if you kill a snake, another will move into the vacated territory. Some types of snakes kill other snakes for food. King snakes, for instance, kill and eat rattlesnakes. I wouldn't want to run into a copperhead either. What is their preferred habitat? Do they like tall grasses? If so, keep your property free of tall grasses. If your compost has rodents which are attracting snakes, fix the compost so that it cannot harbor rodents and snakes cannot get into it. I live in the desert. There are seven types of rattlesnakes in this state, New Mexico. I keep most of my bushes trimmed up off the ground so that I can see beneath them and they don't offer good places for snakes to hide. Most of my plants are spaced so that they don't grow densely and offer hiding places. There is a snake free zone around the house, which is devoid of plantings. Being aware is prudent. Being proactive for your own safety is smart. Educating yourself, so that you can recognize different types of snakes is a very good thing. Lorna

Sounds like fun....but afraid it might be a very long commute for me. Linda C