What'n Hell is THAT ?!?!

It's not a wonder it takes me so long to get things done.  Just a couple of days ago I went out to adjust the door to the skimmer.  It was a little low and as a result wasn't skimming the water surface properly.

I took the lid off the skimmer and adjusted the door.  I noted the skimmer basket needed to be cleaned so removed it for that purpose.  Once I removed the basket the water level in the skimmer rose a few inches and water started to pour into the overflow.  After about 15 or 20 seconds the water flow stopped... obviously the overflow pipe was clogged somewhere.

I cleaned the basket and returned it to the skimmer.  Then I selected tools to remove rocks and such so I could trace the skimmer overflow pipe.  I felt I needed to fix the cloged pipe.  I found the pipe and the clog and immediately deduced the need for a larger overflow pipe as the one there was reduced from 2 inches to 3/4's of an inch thus the reason for getting clogged up.

I decided to extend the 2 inch pipe to our french drain which is a 4 inch pipe.  My thinking is a 4 inch pipe would surely take care of anything a lowly overflow might send it's way.  So I started to search for the french drain.

The french drain is on the right, the PVC fitting is white.

I found the french drain.  I also found the 4 inch french drain pipe terminated into a PVC fitting that split the pipe into three 2 inch pipes that, in turn, ran into the wood retaining wall that separates my property from the detention area on the east side of our property.  I wasn't particularly impressed with the design and considering the PVC pipe connections were done with duct tape I was even less impressed with the whole mess.

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do.  If I were to run the overflow into the french drain then I would have to seriously alter the split into three 2 inch pipes.  I also ran some water into the french drain to see how it was draining into the detention area.  I found it finally did drain but only after leaking like a sieve as the duct tape had deteriorated and some of the connections had separated.

I decided to pull the whole mess out and just re-pipe it.  I was going to remove all the splits and 2 inch pipe, connect a fitting to allow the overflow to drain into the french drain and also allow me to extend the four inch french drain to the detention area.

Armed with my reciprocating saw I deftly cut the french drain at the precise location determined by measurements, luck, eye-balling, a hope and a prayer, a special pencil mark and the shadow of a nearby shrub.

We're getting to the good part of the story now!

With the french drain cut I started to remove the plumbing from the cut to the retaining wall.

As I pulled the first 2 inch pipe out that's when I saw it!  Ginger was standing near and I looked where the pipe had been and there, in living black and yellow, was the creature pictured below:

I pointed to the creature and said, "What'n Hell is THAT?"

The creature looked stunned and wasn't moving.  I didn't see any wounds but I thought I might have dealt the creature a fatal blow when removing the 2 inch pipe.  Once I got my wits about me I ran for my camera.  I started taking pictures about the time the creature recovered from it's sudden exposure to the afternoon sun.  It slowly crawled to the shade of the now upended pipe I had just pulled from the ground.

The creature was on the far side of the pipe in this picture.  It crawled to the base of the pipe and then crawled into the pipe.

We decided to leave the little guy alone and let it regain it's senses. After all, one can only endure so much trauma per day.

So I'll close this chapter of the story with the creature holed up in a 2 inch PVC pipe after being abruptly and violently ousted from it's moist and protected niche under the leaking terminus of our french drain.

What kind of creature is this?  What will happen to it?  Stay tuned for the rest of the story...

Whoohoo!!!

Part 2 of "What'n Hell is THAT ?!?!"

Are you sitting in front of your computer all smug and aglow because you know what kind of creature we discovered in our yard on Thursday?  Do you even know the name? I hope so because in all my years I've see lots of creatures but never one like that and in the flesh, so to speak, too.  A good challenge don't you think?

That creature is a tiger salamander.  Some might call it a barred tiger salamander and others might just call it an icky lizard.  I have found there are a lot of folks that know about the tiger salamander.

For starters it is the state amphibian for the 34th state... as in Kansas.  Now if that doesn't impress you here is a bit more information about the tiger salamander:

The tiger salamander is the largest land-dwelling salamander in the world! The (barred) tiger salamander typically grows to 6 - 8 1/2 inches but has been measured as long as 14 inches. They are also long-lived with estimates that they may live for 20 years.  What's not so obvious is that they have only four toes on their front feet and five toes on their back feet.

It is hard to see in this picture which is why I
posted it.  Who would think yellow and black is
hard to see?

These large salamanders make a nice meal for many animals such as snakes, turtles, herons and fish. They, in turn, make a meal of insects, earthworms, small mice and even other amphibians.  Tiger salamanders best avoid predators by a nocturnal and secretive lifestyle. They are active under the cover of darkness and spend most of their time in underground burrows or in thick vegetation near water. This salamander may take cover in mammal burrows or, if the soil is soft enough, they will dig out their own shelter.

Tiger salamanders have a fascinating and adaptable life process. Typically, tiger salamander larvae feed and grow during the spring and early summer and metamorphose two to five months after hatching. However, some populations never metamorphose. If the water system where they live is permanent and the environment surrounding this water system is dry and inhospitable, they may retain gills and a wide tail fin, crucial larval characteristics that allow them to live underwater. These salamanders mature in the water and even are able to mate and reproduce, although they maintain the body of an immature salamander. This process is called neoteny. Other tiger salamanders, in response to the seasonal drying out of their aquatic habitat, must be able to metamorphose on demand. They even may metamorphose if they are removed from water and handled temporarily.

Those tiger salamanders that are lucky enough to breed, either as terrestrial or aquatic salamanders, usually do so in late winter, but breeding may take place whenever there is enough moisture. Once the female has attached her egg masses to underwater debris in temporary pools, she has nothing more to do with them. They hatch three to five weeks later, depending on water temperature.

The tiger salamander ranges from central Nebraska to northeastern Mexico. They are distributed throughout Texas except for the eastern quarter.

You are really a trooper if you've managed to stay with me after all the "facts" about this "new to me" amphibian. 

Now the rest of the story... what we found in the pipe on Friday morning:
Nothing!  Apparently in the dark of night the tiger salamander decided it was better to beat a hasty retreat and fight another day than to stay with a decimated den.  That guy is no where to be found.

Wow, that was an exciting find.

Whoohoo!!

Thanks to Wikipedia and Google in getting the info on the tiger salamander

Thanksgiving

About 10 years ago, when living on the Texas coast, we joined our neighbors for the traditional thanksgiving turkey.  It was a block party type of thing and our neighbor had cooked 2 huge turkeys.  The problem I have with thanksgiving is I hate turkey!  It seems almost un-American to admit I can’t stand the bird, but it is what it is.  In an effort not to offend our neighbor who had worked so very hard in preparing the birds I accepted a helping of turkey.  For me the good news was there were more of us for the thanksgiving feast than there were chairs at the table so I was able to move out to the deck with my meal.  The deck was adjacent the intercostal waterway.  I decided the best way to dispose of the huge helping of turkey was, rather than eat it, feed it to the fish.  When I had the opportunity I tossed the turkey over the rail into the water.  Apparently the seagulls noticed and considered it a thanksgiving offering.  First one swooped down to pluck a small piece of meat from the water.  Then another and another.  Then every seagull for 50 miles seemed to join in the celebration.  The seagulls were loving their thanksgiving meal so much they started squawking and jabbering and generally making a hell of a racket.  Then the dog next door started barking and making a ruckus.  Within minutes there were gulls sitting on the roof of the house, the deck railing, the deck furniture and flying about… these guys were everywhere.

The noise and commotion attracted the attention of our host and hostess and they came to the deck to see what was going on.  Seeing some turkey floating in the water it was quite obvious what had attracted the gulls.  The host asked who lost their turkey.  I felt obliged to step up to the yokelish behavior.  I told them I tripped on the deck and part of my meal, the turkey, fell into the water.

The host and hostess, being well mannered, inquired if I was hurt while looking me in the eye to see if I was on drugs or possibly drunk.  I assured them I was fine and they returned to the house.  The hostess came back on the deck moments later with a plate of turkey and proceeded to refill my plate with a new helping.  Geez, now what was I going to do?

I pondered my dilemma surrounded by seagulls that were just waiting for an opportunity for seconds.  Hundreds of beady black eyes were watching my every move.  I started second guessing myself wondering why I didn’t just fess up to not liking turkey.  It seemed too late to do that now since I was already on my second helping.

I decided to try the obvious and eat some of the turkey.  I took a bite.  Aw man, this was terrible.  It was dry and it tasted like… like turkey.  Ugh, what to do.  In desperation I decided to “doctor” the turkey and went into the house and found some gravy.  I ladled a healthy serving onto the turkey and returned to the deck.  I started to take another bite when I noticed these chunks of stuff in the gravy.  Aw man, giblets.  This was getting sickening.  I was doubting that even the seagulls would eat this.  NOW what was I going to do?

I decided the problem was not insurmountable and to resolve this issue without actually eating the turkey would require a little planning and stealth.  I needed to think.  I thought what I needed was a dog.  Considering the amount of turkey on my plate I might possibly need more than one… Chihuahua's need not apply.  I sauntered over to the fence and leaned against it with my plate in hand.  I sampled the potatoes and picked at the cranberry sauce.  I tapped the fence with the heal of my shoe to see if I could attract the dog that lived next door, hopefully he was still in the yard.  A few moments later my ears heard the dog sniffing at the fence.  I turned to face the fence and scooped the turkey from my plate and over the fence it went.  Immediately the seagulls took flight and the dog started barking again.  I’m thinking a barking dog isn’t eating turkey slathered in giblet gravy.  I’m also thinking I needed to do something about my hand with gravy dripping from it and I was making a small mess on the deck.  Where was my napkin?
 
I couldn’t see over the fence but I could clearly hear the dog barking as it obviously ran around the yard chasing away the invading seagulls.  The ruckus decibel level rose higher and higher and I just stood there with a gravy dripping from my hand wishing, praying the noise would stop. 

Enter the host and hostess.  They once again are trying to see what is making such a ruckus on the deck.  I stuck my gravy hand behind my back, my foot over the drips on the deck and casually leaned against the fence.  Seeing the commotion was next door their interest waned.  They inquired of me if I had any idea what was going on in their neighbors yard.  I told them I didn’t know but maybe the birds discovered the dog food and were helping themselves.  They agreed that could be the cause and excused themselves and returned to the house.  I don’t think they believed me.

The calamity didn’t continue for much longer and once the turkey was eaten (an assumption on my part) the birds as well as the dog were quiet but still watching for seconds… or thirds if you will.

I found a faucet and rinsed off my gravy hand and went into the house, disposed of my now mostly clean plate, and joined the others.  I took a seat on the couch and was watching football on television.  After a while I got up to find something to drink and to my horror I saw a splotch of gravy on the couch… right where I had been sitting.  Aw Geez, when I hid my hand behind my back over by the fence I must have got gravy all over my pants.  Now what was I going to do?

The stress was about to give me a heart attack.  Twice I was nearly caught dumping that awful turkey and now I had left a gravy stain on their couch and I knew I had to have gravy on my backside.  Oh if I had only declined the turkey and been honest from the get-go.

Well, no one was paying attention to me so I once again sauntered out to the deck but this time I just kept sauntering and walked around the house, down the street and into my own place.  I closed the door behind me and locked it.  I removed my pants and shirt.  I put on comfortable shorts and a t-shirt, then fixed me a peanut butter sandwich and read a book.

This year, I considered fixing the birds that frequent our yard some turkey and giblet gravy as a reminder to myself what happens when you try to fit in with the crowd… that is the turkey eating crowd.  Then it dawned on me that these were not seagulls in our yard and they would probably just enjoy some extra seed.  They wouldn’t even pretend to eat turkey.  They got seed and I’m having steak.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!  Whoohoo.

An Omen?

Back in 1973 a movie came out that scared the bejesus out of me... The Exorcist.  I went with a friend to see the show and that night, when I went to bed, I heard sounds in the attic and the basement.  Every time the house creaked I freaked.  I knew it was silly to be scared... geez, it was only a movie.  I wanted my friend by my side but that wasn't happening.  The damn (pun intended) movie wasn't real for crying out loud.  So I went outside and got my dog and made him sleep in my bedroom.  That helped.

Then, in 1976, the first of the Omen series had it's debut.  Yep, all the accumulated bejesus, 3 years of it, was again scared out of me.  Since seeing this show I've avoided rottweilers and young boys in suits.    I've avoided them like the plague.

The Poltergeist series were not so bad but I think I'm more of an E.T. kinda guy.  I did enjoy John Denver and George Burns in Oh, God.  George Burns was much nicer than the unseen devil that was invading Regan (played by Linda Blair) in the Exorcist.

But I didn't bring all this up just so everyone would know what a scaredy-cat I was and that I had lost all my bejesus twice over movies.  I brought this up because I'm starting to see a trend in my back yard.  Maybe it's an OMEN.  As you now know OMEN's are very scary.

I didn't write about it but last week Ginger found a dead bird next to the fence in the back yard.  She told me about it and a few hours later I went out to "dispose" of the creature lest my granddaughter find it.  Not that she would be shocked or anything like that... it's just that if she found it we would have to have another funeral and burial.  I searched for the bird but it was gone.  Ginger came out and searched.  It was still gone.

Then Joe disappeared last Thursday.  She hasn't been seen for 6 days now. 

Then just yesterday on two different occasions a dead toadlet was seen floating slowly toward the skimmer.  It's easy to assume the toadlets were killed taking their joy ride through the pump impeller followed by the water pipe and the big finale of the waterfalls.  I made just that assumption when I first saw the deceased toadlets.

But now that I consider all the events together I may have stumbled on a demonic plot.  Maybe my dopey neighbors are conjuring up spirits.  Maybe my house was built on a long abandoned Boot Hill or Indian Burial Ground.

Whatever the case, that bird was dead and then vanished.  Joe hasn't been seen lately.  Dead toadlets have been observed floating in the pond.  Even the rescued toad has not been seen for 3 days!

Go ahead and laugh.  When you go to bed tonight take a moment and listen.  Do you hear that?  I think it's coming from the attic?  What the hell is that?  I hope you have a dog...

Boink! The Hawk is Here...

Today was the third straight day I've seen the Sharp-shinned Hawk in the backyard.  Today was a bit different ~ here is the story.

It's a Sunday and I'm reading while comfortable in my chair.  Ginger is making pizza dough and the TV is making noise but I can't tell you what noise it was.  Then came a LOUD CRACK and I thought the window that looks into the backyard must surely be shattered.  I jumped up, my book falling to the floor, saying "What the hell was that?" 

The window was intact.  There were feathers stuck in the screen.  I rushed to the window and looked out to see a whowho birdie (mourning dove if you haven't been reading the blog) laying on the cold concrete.  Dead?  No, it was moving a bit.  The bird rolled onto it's belly but was obviously dazed. 

Not at all dazed was the Sharp-shinned Hawk sitting about 10 feet away from the whowho birdie!

The dove rose to it's feet and was twitching it's head like it was trying to get focused.  It wasn't completely recovered.  The hawk just sat on the birdbath. 

It was obvious to me that when the hawk had came to the yard this caused the birds that were feeding under the bird feeder to flee.  This poor whowho birdie in it's flight for life had forgotten to watch were it was going and ran into the window knocking itself senseless.

What surprised me was the hawk didn't pounce on the easy meal. 

The whowho birdie finally seemed to regain it's senses.  I decided I would try and get a picture of the hawk and whowho birdie in the same frame.  As I reached for my camera the whowho birdie decided to make an exit.  The hawk immediately took off with the whowho birdie in it's sights.  The whowho birdie made it about 20 feet when the hawk intercepted it and down to the ground they went.  It seemed to me the whowho birdie was dead by the time they reached terra firma.

I stepped outside with the hopes of getting a picture but as soon as I stepped out the hawk took flight with the prey firmly gripped in it's talons.

Whew!

A Fly-by

Bill Cosby said that he was 11 years old before he discovered his name wasn't Jesus Christ and his brother wasn't named Dammit... as in "Jesus Christ what the hell are you doing.  Damnit, stop doing that!"  I still think that is pretty funny

My mother used to say, "If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times...."  My father used to say, "Son, now what have I told you...."  To continue with that theme I will repeat myself:  Things happen so very fast in the never ending interaction between predator and prey.  I be talk'n 'bout that interaction thing go'n on in my backyard don'tyaknow.

The little birdies are feeding on the sunflower seeds and millet that I put in the feeder on a daily basis.  Then, poof, they are all sit'n in the Mulberry Tree and a hawk comes zooming (as in zooming really fast) toward the bird feeder.  The hawk hits the feeder causing it to spin wildly and bird seed flies out like a fireworks pin-wheel. 

The hawk continued on without lunch and the little birdies started feeding on the ground with the newly deposited seeds resting on top of the snow.

Elapsed time... about 3 seconds. 

Imagine what we are missing just because we aren't watching at the right moment.