The Joys of Living in the Desert

On Saturday, as we were getting the hose out to wash cars, I noticed a hole in the ground with fresh dirt all around it like a gopher had just recently dug the hole. This "hole" is right next to the gate that goes into our tiny little backyard area where I let Scotty play. I hadn't given the "hole" much more thought since then. But, today I was walking by the large arched window in our living room and saw something moving from the corner of my eye. I looked and saw a big snake shooting out of the "hole." It was by my guess, a little more than 3 feet long. I watched it glide it's way up into the bushes on the side of the house. CREEPY!!! Scotty and I sat there and watched it for awhile as I explained to him that we NEVER, EVER touch or go near snakes. I left the window after awhile to do some things. After about 20 minutes, I went back to see if it was still out there. I didn't see it but.............Standing right beside the window was a roadrunner with a big grasshopper hanging out of it's mouth.
It looked like it was watching something in the window sill, so I looked to the left and there was a lizard running along the outside of the window.
The bird ran away and ran right over the snake hole. About 30 seconds later, the snake comes shooting out of the hole again and slithers to the bushes. The lizard just sat there very still until the snake was into the bushes and then ran away. I had looked closely at the snake, looked online and found that it is most likely a Sonoran gopher snake. Not poisonous but still SCARY. Now I don't feel like I can let Scotty play outside anymore. Man, the desert sucks!!