I’ve been more camera-happy than normal lately. Perhaps because there are a few signs of springs now and I’m desperate for it!

That said, I’m notoriously scared to death of those slimy creatures known as snakes. There are few things to get between me and a good picture—snakes are one of them.

I was going in to take more pictures of the pretty little swamp (pictured above) and bending down for better angles when my little brother-in-law, who happened to be next to me, screamed, “Nikki, there’s a snake! I’m serious there’s a snake.”

I’ve had every “snake prank” pulled on me over the years. But my theory: just run and get mad later if it was a false alarm. In this case, I didn’t see the snake (thank you, Lord!) but I did jump, scream and run like the dickens.

Why must I wander towards swamps for  pictures? I’ll never know.

Here are a few other fun ones from this past weekend (no snake near-encounters with these, however.)