camouflage

We took apart an old wood pile mostly filled with cast off twigs, anywhere from 1 to 3 inches in diameter and up to 6 feet long. Moved some to our wood rack on the porch to see us through this winter and burned the rest which were rotten and bug eaten.
Following our habit when working around any old structure in the woods, with cell phones in our pockets, we moved slowly, watched for movement, watched our feet and stepped away now and then to let any hidden reptiles make a calm exit. As is usual with any spot that 'looks like a good place for a snake' we found none. Not sure if that's disappointing or not; some critters are really beautiful.

However, about half way down, I found evidence that it HAD been a good place for a snake to shed its skin.

When I took this photo I put a ruler next to the skin to show the size. Snake skin stretches as it peels off, so this really wasn't very large for a timber rattler. Perhaps this was the snake that lost it's life in the showdown with Copper, the cat. (Truthfully, the one Copper cornered and our good neighbor, Paul, shot.)

Later in the day I spied this stick which is obviously the inspiration for the the timber rattler camouflage.