I went back to the same spot for the third evening in a row – my last for a while, I think. I went this time to release the garter snake I had caught and kept. I guess I also went to try my luck. Could I do three trips in a row?

Nope. I’ll write about the repeat worm snake out in Jersey later, but this streak ended on Wednesday. I tried the log, and there was nothing under it but centipedes and slugs. Maybe it was the rain; I imagine it could have sent all the snakes out to catch the worms and slugs that had come to the surface, since there were none waiting for me under any logs.

The dead snake was gone too, or I couldn’t spot it without Jen. I had a mind to photograph it, to make some record of its end besides my notes and our memories, but it wasn’t there. I walked in circles, spirals, and repetitive curls across the grass, stopping at each stick to see what it wasn’t.

It did feel good to release the little garter I had kept for two days. I’m not sure why I lost interest in it. I think garter snakes might grow too big for what I’m shooting for these days. I’ve been getting into little snakes you can support on as many night crawlers as you can find in ten minutes per week, and a growing garter snake can down a lot of worms. I guess I’ll stick to the brown snakes and red bellies for now.