Cat, bird, and snake

I was reading the paper while the cats had their morning time outside. Suddenly Daisy leaped into the air at something. She was under the abelia bush, right by the cat door. I thought she was after a butterfly. Then a hummingbird came by and took a long hard look at the abelia bush before deciding against it. That's when I saw the snake. It was another yellow and brown striped rat snake, but smaller this time. It was coiled around a branch and bunched up in distress.

Bob went around and got the snake out of the bush. It gave him a little bite. Mack came to watch. Then Bob succeeded in catching the snake, which was watching both him and the cat. He put it up into a tree where it could easily get away from the cats. Naturally, all three of the cats sniffed the area on the grass where the snake had been. 

We know many creatures travel through our yard and the woods behind the house. A week ago, I heard a fox calling to her kits for almost half an hour before the yard crew arrived next door. I was doubly glad I had kept the cats in. The foxes stayed in the woods that morning, but sometimes Mack goes into the woods. He seems to do it less than he did before his misadventures in March. Of that I am very glad.