There's A Snake in My House!

So today, I'd returned from nest obs with a hankering for some deliciously refreshing iced tea. I walked into the mudroom where the refrigerators live, and reached in mine for the jug. When I closed the door, the refrigerator started making a weird noise--loud, like hissing. Like an aggressive wind blowing through dry reeds. Oh no. That was no refrigerator. I'd heard that noise before. Right before I almost stepped on a ready-to-strike rattlesnake. I spun quickly, looking for the source of the sound. And there it was, backed into the corner of the room, just behind the coat rack. Not the biggest rattlesnake I've ever seen, just the first I've ever found in the house. But hey, at least he warned me.

Molly -- who'd joined me after my startled exclamation of "Oh! So uh there's a rattlesnake in here"-- and I left the front door open for him and went back to the living room to fill out data sheets. Ten minutes later when we went back to check on the snake, it was gone. Presumably outside. We hope. Nevertheless, when Kim returned from obs later, I told her to watch her toes.