Was that really a chicken snake? I thought they were big and black. I was thinking rattler until Tuffy pointed out the head.
Black racers may be what you are thinking of but my pictures are of a chicken snake.
A few years ago we had a drought and all the pasture grass dried up and turned brown. I started feeding round bales of hay in August and continued until the next May.
That Fall one bale I had picked up with the loader of the tractor and started down the farm road towards the pasture. I did not get very far from the barn and I noticed something moving around on the bale.
WTH, was my first thought but then I could see that it was a Black racer trying to find a way to get off the bale. Before I could stop the tractor and set the bale down, it made a flying leap off to the left side of the bale and hit the ground at full speed.
Sure was glad because I did not want it to crawl back into the seat and steering wheel to help me drive......
Hey, your property is gorgeous! You're very lucky to find such a nice place that's secluded like that.
I'm gonna rant so let me apologize in advance, in case I offend someone. I was at the Trinity River Horse Trials early today, a 3 day eventing. I was watching stadium jumping, they were incredible. Some of the jumps looked 5 feet tall. The riders were unbelievable, the most skilled riders in the business, imho. Then I went over to a Quarter Horse show and watched the western pleasure class, what a joke. How hard is it to look like a robot, never moving on the horse, horse barely moving? And the riders were much flashier than the horse, slinky shirts with sequins. The girls looked like they put their makeup on with a trowel. Was it a horse show or a fashion show, I ask you? And what's with the hand without the reins, in a fist, right by the saddle horn, never moving. Somebody put some batteries in the riders. There was absolutely no question who the better riders were and which horses were the most talented, between the western pleasure crowd and the 3 day eventers. I was embarrassed for the western pleasure riders because they didn't realize how ridiculous they looked.