Baby Snakes

 

You can go for a night walk through the cloud forests of Monteverde with a guide. It's a good idea to have one along. The green serpent above is a juvenile pit viper. They say you can survive its bite if you get the anti-venom serum within four hours. They make it right there in Costa Rica.

Which brings to mind today's theme song.

Snake In The Grass

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Thar be monsters.

There is a walking and cycling trail that runs along the Mississippi, starting in a semi-derelict industrial area a couple of kilometers north of the Arch. It has a mini park at the entrance - we're using the term park loosely - set up by our town's late mad genius and entrepreneur, Bob Cassilly. (He even got an obituary in the New York Times.) The theme of the sculptures he installed seems to be sleepy or amorous serpents (more about the latter soon). Visitors find it jolting to pull into a lonely gravel parking lot, only to be confronted by a huge cement snake. Could they be scarier than baby snakes?

The City Museum - Snakes!

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I don't know much about herpetology but I know a good looking snake when I see one. Despite the fact that many members of this family are high and dry, there are a number of examples in the World Aquarium at the City Museum.

The official theme song of today's post is one of my all-time favorite ditties, Frank Zappa's Baby Snakes:



WHAT I'M CELEBRATING: the dollar is up! The euro is down! The pound is down! Maybe I can afford to visit Europe next year.

TOMORROW: guidance for achieving inner peace from the City Museum. And, if I feel like it, maybe a lagniappe, like a werewolf in a high school letter jacket.