On Mondays I usually work in the yard to fill up the green barrel. It was almost full when I ran into this creature. I thought it was still too cold for snakes to be out but I guess not. He was young, about 12 inches long. The hawks are out and they like snakes, rodents and baby birds. The hawks are nesting now. I guess you can call my garden the Garden of Eden. Now that I have my snake. I will be staying out of the areas that I think there could be snakes, stay more to the civilized parts of my yard.