dis-gust-ing

Yesterday afternoon, while cutting grass, I passed a very strange branch. I stopped to look at. It was very much shaped like a branch, but its coloring...that was the color of a black snake. But even though the head & neck was up in the air, I couldn't distinguish its head. And then I realized why. I rode the mower on up to the house, got Bobby, my camera, and the gun, and we slowly made our way back toward the pond. The head was no longer up in the air, but you can still get the very disgusting idea:

It's in the process of eating a frog. You can't tell it so much here, but when it was up in the air, the frogs' back legs were sticking out, which made it look like a branch. Sadly, I missed the snake, and it made it back to the pond. I'm not sure I really saved the frog, though. It semi-hopped when Buster pawed at it, and I didn't see a front leg. I don't know if the snake pulled it off (Bobby says I probably shot the frog instead of the snake) or what happened. I'm secretly hoping I did hit the snake, even if it wasn't enough of a hit to kill it immediately.  I really don't care to see this thing in my hen house later this summer. And yes, now I'm very leary of cutting near the pond and the edge of the woods.