Spotted this out of the front window a couple of days ago.  Someone has been shedding his skin on our lawn.
We have in past summers played host to a black snake who was probably about as big as this one.  Not sure if it’s the same guy.

Frankly, I’m not that interested in finding out.  Snakes – just one more thing they never told me about before I agreed to move to mid-Missouri.  Thanks, everybody.

Update: we saw him yesterday, in all his slimy, scaly glory, sleeping beneath the big white box on our porch where we keep all our outside stuff.  We think it’s the same guy.  I know black snakes are supposed to be the good guys, and that they eat all sorts of undesirables, but come on, people.  They’re still snakes.