There Has Been a Death

Clark's last remaining reptilian friend has moved on to a better place.
Kevin.
Kevin, the yellow-bellied racer.  It's a miracle that Kevin defied death for as long as he did.  He was only captured because he was weak.  Yellow-bellied racers are notoriously quick and tricky to catch-- or so Clark always told us.  Kevin was slow and lumpy and shriveled in some parts.  We were sure he would die before Clark left.  But he didn't and Clark couldn't in good conscience sell him or give him away in his condition.  So we kept him and, if I'm being honest, kind of neglected him, and he finally gave up the ghost.

As we do in all animal funerals, we went around sharing memories of the deceased.  Mostly we just praised Kevin's will to live.  He surpassed all odds.  For years.
I don't know why Cannon chose to bury him right in front of the gate where we will walk and run over Kevin's remains for years to come.  I might have encouraged a different location, but to be honest, I cared as much about Kevin in death as I did in life.  Which wasn't much.

R.I.P Kevin.  Clark will be glad to know you had a proper burial-- sort of.
So as we said good-bye to the last of Clark's reptiles, I snapped this picture of Peter last week. 

He was engrossed in looking at the reptile book.  I didn't even notice the words on the second page until I look at the picture later.   In so many ways, Peter is the "next generation" after Clark. 

He found a picture of the exact kind a snake that was Clark's favorite pet snake-- an albino milk snake. 
And here we go again.  Deep breath.  I can do this.