Yep, time to leave!

In order to make more space in Pepe for the trip back up north, I arranged to store a couple of containers of things in the back building behind the Visitor Center, since I was just going to have to bring them back, anyway. As I had to turn in my keys today, I cajoled my co-worker Jim into opening the building for me and began scouting out the spot least to be in the way. While I was doing that I heard Jim say, "Uh-huh, there he is." I looked around and saw this coil of what looked like rope laying right at the hinge point of the door and, upon further investigation, saw for myself the fabled rattler that's supposed to live here. Holy crap! No telling how many times I just blissfully marched by him on my way to deposit trash and recyclables in the building! Apparently, this is his favorite spot. I'll keep that in mind.


So, in an effort to make sure I left Big Bend without having to dash off to the hospital in Alpine first due to snakebite, Jim grabbed a rock rake and snatched up our little friend and relocated him to a cactus stand a little ways off. Right about now, the snake is wondering just what the heck is happening. Sorry about the rather sloppy job of composition, but I was running along after Jim snapping as fast as I could. Yeah, I'm an idiot.


And here's our little friend all sunny and warm now, and pissed as hell. If you look closely at where the end if his tail is, you can see a blurry beige parallelogram, as he gave us a buzz as I took this shot (or was it another one?). That would be him telling us just where to go and what to do with ourselves when we get there. Don't worry, he'll be back in his little corner before too long and will forget about the whole episode. That's the theory, anyway. Hmm . . . I wonder if rattlesnakes have long memories?