Met her match, met his maker

Warning:  This story does not end well.  Maybe the title gives it away.  Two weeks ago, we encountered quite an exciting predator/prey moment, while doing a little weeding.  Now, as a gardener, I get a  little excited about encountering a "farmer's friend" in my midst.  And over the last few years, I have found a few.  Each one, I carefully protect and place in a safe zone within the garden boundary.  But this situation had me wondering, trying to make a value judgement......which is a better "friend" (i.e. more beneficial to the garden)?Let me tell you, regardless of the answer to the question, I was rooting for the toad.  He was quite accepting of his fate, not struggling, not panicking, rather resigned.  He gets the sympathy vote.  On one hand, snakes need to eat too.  But, can't they pick on some invertebrate, and leave the amphibians alone? Toads bring alot of joy to this house.  We often find them on warm summer nights, strategically positioned beneath an outdoor light, waiting for the right bug to low-fly past them, so that they can unfold that preposterously long tongue, flick, stick, and gulp down dinner.  So, in the battle at hand, the toad lost.  The lump slowly moved downward.....

One happy and satiated snake was the result.  

But as I warned you, it does not end well, or end there.  Last night, beside the driveway, a gruesome discovery.......there lay the snake, upside down and open-mouthed.  Quite dead.  So, in all, I lost two friends of my garden.  Hopefully, they left some kind of legacy.