Carl, I thought you lived in Pueblo not Appalachia or the Ozarks.

Put yer hand on the radio - now shake that snake...

That looked like a prairie rattler, the kind that I accidentally ran over
on my bike.

I was surprised the first time I saw a tarantula run across the road in
front of me. I had never known that they were native to the SW.

Chas.

wrote in message
...
Some recent obstructions remind me not to complain too much about that
annoying traffic light on my daily ride. Most them expand in Explorer
if you click on the lower right. None of them are squirrels or dogs.

Absolutely limp, motionless, and hoping that it won't be noticed,
stretched across the path:
http://i11.tinypic.com/52fvkno.jpg

Obviously, it _was_ noticed, but my first attempt at one-handed
photography is embarrassingly fuzzy:

http://i15.tinypic.com/4utq8mh.jpg

This unharmed idiot was sunbathing on the path a few days later. The
one-handed focus is better, but a more intelligent photographer would
have checked that his automatic shutter had opened all the way:

http://i15.tinypic.com/6ccz2iw.jpg

Another unharmed idiot, caught a few minutes later, also sunbathing on
the path:
http://i10.tinypic.com/673ty4n.jpg

This poor foot-long devil was still alive, but couldn't rattle, coil,
crawl, or hiss, so I had to put it out of its misery. (Handling this
kind is foolish--most fatal bites in the U.S. involve the head or neck
and a bizarre religious belief that rattlers won't resent handling.)
At first I thought that a car had hit it, but it was almost undamaged.
The fatal wound, an ugly, unseen gash on the far side of its neck,
probably came from a beak:
http://i13.tinypic.com/53rtreu.jpg

These two camera hogs were too big for one-handed photography. The
first is about three feet long, the second about four feet long:
http://i6.tinypic.com/4ztygba.jpg
http://i18.tinypic.com/4xqogfs.jpg

This nitwit was playing why-did-the-chicken-cross-the-road, as they
often do, and finally ran over my shoe. They have a disconcerting
habit of near-sightedly charging at you instead of fleeing:
http://i16.tinypic.com/5z6l5y8.jpg

Here's his little brother, next to a bottle of bug repellant:
http://i9.tinypic.com/4uxcfa1.jpg

These three adults just stood there, while the two recently born kids
ran happily back and forth past them. The second kid is just visible
between the middle and right hand adults:
http://i13.tinypic.com/6g1xe1s.jpg

One kid has already zoomed past the left edge of the picture. The
other is following:
http://i14.tinypic.com/5z20k09.jpg

If you look closely, you can see the other kid, now running back the
other way, its head just past its sibling's tail:
http://i7.tinypic.com/4muhbbl.jpg

And now it's raced back the other way, past all three adults:
http://i7.tinypic.com/4yhvh42.jpg

These two versions of four horns have already been posted, but you
might as well see them again if you've browsed this far:
http://i8.tinypic.com/4yjyjvn.jpg
http://i7.tinypic.com/4y7cbgx.jpg

Finally, here's about ten pounds of expectant mother, a bit bigger
than a bike helmet. Inflamed by a thunderstorm, she foolishly dug a
nest this afternoon at the edge of a sandy but poorly drained two-rut
road, fifteen feet from her marsh:
http://i12.tinypic.com/6gxpi1g.jpg

Tails are often broken or truncated, but this tail is pristine, ready
for the show ring. (Yes, I once kept them as pets, but no, there are
no formal best-of-show competitions.)
http://i13.tinypic.com/4zvf9nb.jpg

Excellent shell, little moss, no leeches, no holes:
http://i17.tinypic.com/6434ia9.jpg

The tail has been moved to one side to show to advantage, while the
eye catches the camera flash:
http://i8.tinypic.com/5y9huds.jpg

Cheers,

Carl Fogel