My lucky day? Non-aggressive Copperhead! I think copperheads are not very aggressive as a rule.
Was transplanting a large clump of hellibores, and had just reached in with my bare hand trying unsuccessfully to separate the clump. Took the shovel to it again, and a 30" copperhead emerged from it! I've not seen one that large, and at the moment it seemed gigantic! This was right flush up against the house, so I wasn't expecting a snake there. Snake lost. Our older cat did a good job of keeping snakes away, but our current cat may not have the same interest. Schuster seemed to enjoy playing with even the venomous copperheads.
First garden of any size in quite a few years is doing well. We've frozen green beans and Swiss Chard that are producing faster than we can eat them and have eaten three zucchinis. However, today I found what I took to be juvenile squash bugs on the underside of a squash. Noticed some wilting of leaves, and so have treated liberally with Sevin dust. Have 9 plants, so am hoping they'll still produce. Hate to use insecticides and herbicides (using on poison ivy), but sometimes you must. Swiss Chard is lacy from the bugs eating it, but we figure so long as we get all the bugs off it is still good to eat!
Tomato plants taller than my head are loaded with green tomatoes, and two kinds of okra are growing fast though not to blooming stage yet. Chicken litter does wonders for soil quality!
Silkie hens continue to hatch chicks sporadically, and two Royal Purple keets hatched today. Wasn't really expecting keets, as the flock is mostly confined and conditions are not ideal in their very large pens. One hen has been trying to brood a very large pile of eggs that the others keep adding to, but she can't cover them all, which hinders hatching. Another hen has now joined her. The keets are in a brooder in our small Dutch barn (air conditioned and heated) with the youngest silkies, which will keep them safe and make them much calmer than keets raised by mamas.