it's what I do

•

Photo by Karen Claussen

Some people race cars or repair cars or build skyscrapers or sell apples or put out fires or work in banks or hospitals.

I'm a naturalist. And some days I show snakes to kids and tell them about their life histories and what to be wary of and what not to worry about. Like most of us, snakes need something to eat, a safe place to sleep and ultimately, they want to be left alone.

In this case, today it was an albino rat snake that had been found locally in someone's basement. It now lives at the nature center where we feed it, give it a safe place to sleep and, generally, we leave it alone.

It's what I do.

•