Mojave Green on the Patio

I had been out to the patio earlier to water plants, and when I came out this time I was greeted by a wild hissy buzzy rattling and turned to see a 30" long rattlesnake looping itself over and out of an old one gallon paint can and flicking its jet black forked tongue at me...it came all the way out and coiled and continued to rattle.  Quite an adrenalin rush.

I went inside and got my 8' bamboo pole and prodded it gently to try to encourage it to leave, while standing inside the door, read to slam the door fast if the snake came towards me.  It did not come towards me, nor did it move away, it just keep sounding its warning, so I pushed it firmly off the patio slab onto the sand, while it rattled and hissed.  Then I left it alone.

in this close up of its head, it looks as scared as I was

 I came out several times to look at it and take pictures (from over 4 feet away on the other side of a very large flower pot) for the next 20 minutes and very quickly it no longer seemed threatened

it relaxed and headed into the garden

I watched it for a while from a good distance and it seemed like it knew I was not going to harm it, for it just went about its hunting as if I were not there.

I am treading very carefully around my house now;  I do not want to surprise it again.  My neighbor says the worse thing you can do is sneak up on a snake, because then they do not have time to warn you.  After all, they would only be defending themselves, they know we are too big to eat...