I recently had a run-in with some of the local wildlife here in Ogaki. As a native of Western Washington, my prior experiences with wildlife has been pretty tame: raccoons, possums, squirrels, an absurd number of deer going to town on the neighborhood roses, that sort of thing. But the other day on my way to work, I ran into a new type of fauna: a snake!

The only snakes we have in the Seattle area are garter snakes: small, harmless, and kind of cute. This snake was not any of those…

Upon further research after the fact, I actually have reason to suspect that the monstrous snake I edged around in spine-tingling terror was possibly a mamushi, which is venomous! So scary.

Venomous snakes have never been a part of my life before, so it was quite a shock to see a venomous snake at all, let alone one so visibly well-fed and well over a foot long. My only consolation is that there was only the one on the bridge that day. For now. We shall see what the future holds for me and snakes!