So I met my dad's new neighbours...

And with this picture I've probably abruptly lost at least half of my two fans.

Too bad, that, because as long as Blogger cooperates there are going to be a couple more yet.

Blogger and I have had a few issues this morning.

Anyway, these three (plus a scorpion, I'm told) are the new(ish) neighbours. I feel a little sorry for the guy, to be honest. He's moved into a very small house that was poorly taken care of as a rental (I'm not sure if it's still a rental or if he, for some reason, bought it), but he seems to be keen on actually taking care of a yard that hasn't seen much but the occasional mow for several years so good luck to him.

His snakes are gorgeous.

There's two of them in this photo as well, but only one -- a female, if that matters to anyone out there -- was particularly interested in what I was doing with the camera.

Or how I smelled.

Or whatever it was that attracted her attention.

I don't know much about pythons so I couldn't tell you what kinds they are. He did tell me, but I was too busy fiddling with the camera at the time to remember much.

They're beautiful snakes, they're obviously well looked after, and yes, they're outside. He takes them outside when he's working in the yard. He wears them if he's not doing anything too active, and when he needs both of his hands he leaves them in a tree.

Yep, you read that right. He leaves them in a tree, they climb around... I've never actually seen that done in Alberta, but the snakes seem all right for it. How the neighbourhood will be if anything goes a little weird with the arrangement has yet to be seen, but because of the structure of the yards (Dad lives on a hill and the lots are long. The houses also aren't right next to each other like they'd be in a newer development), if you're going to leave your snakes in a tree this is probably one of the better places to do it.

Get a load of those eyes, would you? Just stunning.

They really are amazing animals, and it's too bad that so many people get squicked out by them. Don't get me wrong -- I do understand. Everything from the old biblical evil to the fear of being hurt to the fact that they're just so different from us goes against snakes. And I'm not saying that I'd ever have a snake as a pet myself, although I'd certainly take a snake over many of the so-called mainstream pets out there that involve so much effort for so little reward.

We, um, practically had a gerbil colony for a bit when I was a kid. Stinky cages, sharp teeth, and no real desire for affection? Oh yeah, sign me up for rodents again, please. Although I do hear that rats are rather nice...

Anyway. As in, time to stop typing according to my wrist. Which I still haven't mentioned is recovering from yet another sprain, have I? I guess that's because you can't get much of a blog post out of the fact that a weakened joint tends to be reinjured easily. I could, though, have disgusted what's left of my two fans by posting a photo of the raging case of contact dermatitis that my brace has given me these past couple of weeks. I'm an itchy, rashy girl, folks.

Anyone grateful for the snakes yet? At least they're pretty.

Ok, off I go to attempt to draw something for the other blog (with a sore wrist, yes. I did say attempt). This upcoming week is yet another one where the posts will probably be sparse, but at least I have a few new photos from yesterday.

There's still a couple more of the snakes, if anyone's interested.



Anyone?






Hello?