The Slice: Pay no attention to the snake on the other side of the window

You could call this “Snakes on a column.”

Before this theme slithers back into its hole, here are just a few more readers’ recollections of surprise encounters with serpents.

“My home office desk is about two feet away from a large picture window,” wrote Bernadette Powers. “One day I looked up to see a large bull snake bolt upright staring at me through the window. We studied each other for a bit. He seemed curious and disinclined to move. For my part, I appreciated his beautiful markings and lack of a rattle on the end of his tail. Eventually, I returned to my computer and he resumed sunning himself on the brick ledge below the window.”

Pat Lorenzo was about to head downstairs one morning to make coffee when she saw a snake wrapped around the staircase handrail. Thinking it was her son’s rubber snake, she was about to grab it. But then it blinked.

Cathy McCoy had just pulled a piece of paper from her desk. “I hadn’t closed the drawer all the way when my husband walked in.”

As she turned to talk to him, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. “A large bull snake came out of the drawer I had just had my hand in and began slithering across my desk.”

Steve Klatt was out with a BLM surveying crew in some southeastern Oregon backcountry when he pulled himself partially up onto a rock ledge and came face to face with a rattlesnake. They settled the territorial dispute peacefully.

Earlier this month, Liberty Lake’s Cheryl Haderlie was in Alabama, celebrating a birthday with her twin brother. While there, she volunteered to help do some interior painting. At one point, she found herself wondering why there was a long rope hanging on a closet door. It was no rope.

Jeanette Ide recalled that her family once found a snake in a boot. Maybe it was planning to go for a hike.

Thanks to all who shared stories, including those whose submissions I didn’t have room for this time.

Today’s Slice question: How many different kinds of animals have you stopped your car for, so they could safely cross the road?