When I arrived for my photo shoot today, I was greeted by six snakes, a rather large iguana, a dog, a cat, a rabbit, a pig, five children and a duck. There were obviously plenty of animals to go around, but some got eliminated almost immediately. The pig didn't even want to be in the same room as the snakes. The cat got eliminated because one of the boys insisted on holding a snake. Four snakes got put back in their bags because six snakes on the set were way too many to deal with. The smallest girl was fearless. She wanted to hold the largest snake and started waving it around, saying "Mommy, look at me, I'm the amazing snake girl." There was a moment of alarm when the boy with the other snake announced, "Mommy, my snake bit me." The vets in the room examined the wound, pronounced it harmless and on we went. After about 100 shots, I could tell the animals were getting restless and we called it a day. Not your average childrens' portrait to say the least, but I think we got some real cute shots.
By the time I got all my equipment packed up and put away, the day was practically over. There was just enough time to run to the grocery store and take the dogs on their evening walk. I'm not as worried about the large snake I saw near the yard the other day. I tried to describe it to one of the snake wranglers at the photo shoot and he said it was probably a Texas Rat Snake. These snakes are ill tempered and will strike if you get too close, but are basically harmless. The snake guy said that if a Rat Snake bit you, it probably wouldn't even break the skin.
Maybe I'll do a little yard work tomorrow. It felt cooler today and sure enough it was. The temperature only got up to 98 degrees.