Snake-wrangler

Those of you who know me know that I am not a fan of snakes. I find them to be a bit unnatural because they don't have any appendages. Fish have fins, insects have six legs, spiders have eight, and so on. The fact that snakes do not have legs has always bothered me. I have always found them creepy.
On Sunday afternoon my roommate, W, came up and asked me what I knew about snakes. I replied "I know I don't like them." She then proceeded to tell me that there was a snake in the downstairs bathroom. She had stepped out of the shower and had found a snake coiled up on her pile of clothes. Roommate M and I went down to investigate. Sure enough, what looked like a 3 to 3 and a half foot long garden snake was in the bathroom. Roommates M and W decided to look it up on the internet to find out if it was poisonous. I decided to take matters into my own hands since I could not be easy knowing a snake was in the house. I went upstairs and found my bedroom garbage can and a scrabble board. Using the board, I flipped the snake in the garbage can and quickly covered it. Roommate M opened the door to the outside and I flung it into the canal behind our house. The question remains: how did the snake get into the bathroom in the first place? (Was I the only one who just got the shivers thinking about it?)
I'll admit that I gave myself a pat on the back for staring down my fear and getting rid of the snake. Just call me the snake-wrangler. :)

Ward Barbecue

Last Thursday Sarah and I went to a ward barbecue in Provo Canyon. It was beautiful despite the heat. After some wonderful food that was cooked by the bishopric, we spread out over South Fork Park and played games. I went for a little walk and took some nice nature shots, then returned to the group and harassed them with my camera. I forget that not everyone grew up with a camera at every event. A couple of people asked me to make them copies of some of the pictures that I took that evening. We stayed until it got dark, then headed home. One particularly interesting moment of note was when I realized that the large rock near the parking lot contained a snake beneath it. Dustin, a member of the ward, went to retrieve his IPOD from the car and came running back as fast as his legs could carry him. He said he had seen a snake and was pretty shook up about it. I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth and offered to retrieve his IPOD. As I climbed the small hill to the parking I pasted a large rock (which was approximately four feet high and three feet wide) and heard a distinct rattling sound that I have only heard on nature shows on television. I slowly backed away from the rock and continued my trip to the car. I took the long way back to the park and warned people who were parked by the rock to do likewise. By the end of the night I had taken many pictures and made some good memories.