Procreate... Sing IT!

It's that time of year again when the frogs and toads want to procreate.  There is no getting around this procreation business as it's one of the most basic of Mother Nature's Laws. 

I got to thinking that my fan out there might just enjoy a listen to the sounds of spring for those lucky enough to have toads and frogs this time of year. 

Click the arrow below to hear what Leo the Leopard Frog sounds like as he advertises his presence and credentials for a mate.







Click the arrow below to hear what the Woodhouse's Toads sound like as they advertise for a mate and stake out territory in the pond.








For most, this "noise" is just irritating and intrusive but for a true amphibian lover this is music to their ears.  I lay awake at night listening to the frogs and toads sing their songs of spring... their songs of love.  Why you may ask...

Of course your awake at night... Could you sleep with all this racket going on... I mean... really!

Whoohoo!

Truant Fish

This morning we had 5 fish in the Bridge Pond.  This afternoon we only had 4 fish in the Bridge Pond.  The largest and most orange fish escaped!  Escaped over Humpty Dumpty Falls... escaped from the school!

Earlier in the day I saw they were swimming just like they had when mating earlier (story here).  They were swimming in shallow areas and skootching across rocks.  I guess this truant fish just kinda skootched onto Humpty Dumpty Falls and was washed over into Joe's Pond and then washed into the skimmer pond.  Wish I could have seen that happening.

For those of you who are not aware of what pond is what or where the water falls, you can see that information by clicking on this magic word... POOFIT.

With the vagabond fish doing solo laps in the skimmer pond I felt it was my responsibility to "rescue" the creature and return her to the Bridge Pond and her compatriots. 

So just how does one go about capturing a fish in a 2000 gallon water filled hole you might ask.  I certainly did and no one had a very good answer.  "Get a net," said one lady.  "Leave it be," said a gent.  "Drain the pond and I'll grab her," said an interloper that looked strangely like a blue heron.  Catching fish by committee wasn't going to work... everyone had an idea but no one had ever actually done it before... it was all just theory.

My first idea (theory?) was to use a very large flower pot... one of those big plastic things about 2 feet high and 18 inches across the top... it even has holes in the bottom.  I found the fish was not interested in just swimming into the pot.  So I attached a long stick to the pot using screws thinking I might hold it on the bottom of the pond and when the fish swam over the pot just lift it with the fish trapped inside.  That turned out to be a pretty dopey idea. 

I decided the lady was right and I needed a net... a big net.  As odd as this may sound, I wasn't in the mood for shopping and decided to just let the creature hang out in the skimmer pond until I got around to purchasing an appropriate capture device.

I went into the house and took a nap.  You see, today is our 28th wedding anniversary and I needed my strength for tonight... We were going out (yep, it's true).  I was expected to stay awake after dinner and also drive home!  I would need a lot of rest during the day to pull that off.  So I took a nap.

I got my 40 winks and untold Z's.  When I awoke I was wondering how the truant was doing in it's new world.  I looked in the Skimmer Pond and saw water, algae, pipes, a pump, rocks and bubbles but no fish.  I considered for about a nano-second if the fish could have gone up the waterfall... not a chance.  That left the skimmer or the large flower pot that was floating in the pond.  Not a chance it was in the pot so I took the lid off the skimmer. 

Pinned to the bottom of the skimmer by the water flow was this orange fish about 8 inches long.  Whoohoo!  I no longer needed to figure out how I was going to capture the truant fish... it had trapped itself.  I took a bucket and filled it with water, removed the skimmer and just dumped the fish into the bucket.  In a mere minute the fish was found, transferred and replaced in the Bridge Pond.

I just love it when a plan comes together... OK, so it wasn't in the plan but it could have been!

Whoohoo!!

Toed Toad

I was working in the yard this afternoon over where the tiger salamander was discovered.  I turned toward my wheelbarrow and felt something on my shoe.  I looked down and there was this dusty, marked with dried dirt, toad.

The little guy somehow wound up on my tennis shoe.  There are no pictures as I felt I just needed to stand there and after a short time he moved on.

Kinda cool.

Whoohoo...

Baby Goldfish

Remember the story about the goldfish mating (here)?  Thought I would report that I still haven't seen any little goldfish.  Not say'n they aren't in there somewhere but you would think I'da found a few by now.

Your ever diligent observer is on the job and I'll report here at the first sign of gold!

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

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!!!

Lily Pad Update

It's a rainy day at Red Tail Ridge.  About time me thinks, I've never lived anywhere that has such an often prediction of rain and such little reality.  Finally, it arrived last night. 

To celebrate the occasion 2 out of 3 lily pads have broken the surface of the pond.  We've never had lily pads before and was amazed at how fast they grew once they got started.  I don't know what the story is on the one that seems stunted as it was looking good when I posed the announcement that they were growing (story here).

As promised here is the lily pad updated picture:

I'm sure there will be future pictures of the lily pads if they survive.

Whoohoo...

It's a Coming Out Party!

My favorite time of year has been and for the rest of my days will be, spring.  Here is why:

Blossoms from our pear tree.

These will be leaves on our purple ash tree.

The ground cover is coming alive... Hello, Creeping Jenny.

A little new with the old.  Spring on the left side of the pot and winter is still holding on to the right side.  Creeping phlox coming alive.

Our weeping mulberry tree is a tangle of limbs.  The leaves are just starting to emerge.

The "lip-lips" are short lived but oh so beautiful.  If someone could create a strain that lasted into summer they would become very rich, very fast.

Vivid!

Blooming flowers are a work in process.  A bottoms up approach.  These guys smell wonderful.  Purple hyacinth I think I love you.

Our apple tree is singing SPRING loud and clear!

Apple blossoms.  So many colors.

Apple blossoms with dainty shadows on the flower petal.

More bottoms up maturing.  Pink hyacinth, I love you too!











And that my friends is just a quick peek at why I love spring....

Spring Carol by Robert Louis Stevenson

WHEN loud by landside streamlets gush,
And clear in the greenwood quires the thrush,
With sun on the meadows
And songs in the shadows
Comes again to me
The gift of the tongues of the lea,
The gift of the tongues of meadows.

Straightway my olden heart returns
And dances with the dancing burns;
It sings with the sparrows;
To the rain and the (grimy) barrows
Sings my heart aloud -
To the silver-bellied cloud,
To the silver rainy arrows.

It bears the song of the skylark down,
And it hears the singing of the town;
And youth on the highways
And lovers in byways
Follows and sees:
And hearkens the song of the leas
And sings the songs of the highways.

So when the earth is alive with gods,
And the lusty ploughman breaks the sod,
And the grass sings in the meadows,
And the flowers smile in the shadows,
Sits my heart at ease,
Hearing the song of the leas,
Singing the songs of the meadows.

Future Lily Pads

Last year we planted lily pads (click here to go there).  I'll be darned if those pads aren't growing and will probably reach the surface of the pond in early May. 

Whoohoo.

More Mating and Fish Facts

Yesterday the female and male nearest the top of this picture were
mating.  Today it's the same male and the white/orange female
centered in this picture. Tomorrow?  We'll see.

I say he's simply promiscuous.  But if he were a human he would be labeled a womanizer, playboy, stud, player, ladies' man, lady killer, and/or rake. Some would call the male fish that was contributing milt to yesterdays mating all those names or more as today he is, again, contributing to the mating of another female ripe with eggs.  Some say Gigolo, I say, WOW, what stamina!

Here are some fish facts I found on the internet:

I read that one of the things spurring goldfish to mate is the warming after the winter cold.  They are very quiet when the water temperature is down into the 30's.  When the water warms into the 60's if they are going to mate it will probably be then.  Some breeders will artificially mimic a short winter to spur the fish to mate. If there are no male fish the female may still lay eggs.

Goldfish need to be about 2 years old to mate and some won't mate until about 4 years old.

The fertile eggs are translucent.  Eggs that are opaque are not fertile and will soon spoil.  The eggs are heavier than water so will sink to the bottom.  In the case of my pond, most will filter down into the rocks.

The amount of time for the eggs to mature and hatch is dependent on the water temperature.  One estimate I read was about 7 days to hatch if the water temperature was around 65 degrees.  A temperature difference of just a few degrees has a big impact on the speed of maturity.

The eggs are less than 1/8th inch in diameter.  When they hatch the fry are described as a translucent body with 2 eyes.  I have seen references stating; "they grow fast."  So far I have no idea if that means they will be 3 inches long by June or 1 inch long in October.  Guess I'll find out.

The fry will stay hidden in the rocks and out of the way of the bigger fish or they may become breakfast (so much for motherly love).  They will eat algae and microscopic (to humans anyway) creatures.  I have no plans on feeding any of the fish.

A mature female goldfish can lay thousands of eggs.  If only half were to get fertilized I foresee a whole lot of little gold/white creatures in the pond.  I imagine the mature fish, birds, frogs and toads will keep the population manageable... I sure don't want to have to do anything like "cull the school" ... ugh!  Hopefully it will be a self balancing population.

Whoohoo!

Big Fish Make'n Little Fish

It can't be denied!  Spring is to what I'm referring.  The fish in the pond have come out of hiding and one pair is obviously doing that procreation thing.

The pair swims around with the male brushing up against the female.  She will slow or even stop someplace and quiver then he quivers and they move on.  In my ever so humble opinion she is depositing eggs and he is offering milt to seal the deal.

It's afternoon as I write this and they have been doing this "dance" since the sun rose over the yardarm right after dark-thirty.  Surely they will sleep well tonight.

The female is orange, the male is white/orange.  He is in position to encourage her to lay eggs and also positioned to contribute his part in this mating dance.

From time to time the pair would swim right out the the water onto rocks.  My thought was they were trying to lay eggs in locations that were not readily accessible to other fish.  Note the pair of voyeurs watching.  One excursion to the shallows resulted in them frightening the resident leopard frog who was able to leap out of what he though was harms way.

I expect we will have little orange and white fish (fry) in a couple of weeks.

Of course you'll be able to read about it in this very blog!

Whoohoo!!

Bird Pad

Not all birds like all bird seed.  Ya just can't make all the birds happy all the time. 

What the picky eaters do is shovel aside the seed they only eat when starving to get to the seed that is tasty to their pallet (do birds have a pallet?).  This selective eating causes a big mess under the feeder.  To exacerbate the mess my feeder was over rocks.  To further exacerbate the mess, the birds would add copious amounts of poop.  As you may imagine after a few years this gets to be pretty disgusting.

I decided it was time to do something about it and the pictures below are my first attempt to remedy this messy situation short of just stop feeding the birds.

Yes ladies and gents, behold the "Bird Pad."  It seemed to me that I had to get rid of the rocks and provide an area for the seed to fall that was cleanable.  To accomplish this I shoveled out numerous wheelbarrow loads of clay soil, discarded bird seed, poop and rocks.  The hole that was left was filled with some stuff called road base.  I packed that down using a 6 X 6 timber and then put down a layer of sand followed by the rectangle concrete blocks.  I made a small retaining wall to the back to make it look nice.

You may have noticed the bird feeder isn't over the bird pad.  I haven't decided, yet, if I'm going to put the feeder there... or anywhere actually.  I'm considering making a few feeders that are similar to tables only the table will be a screen.  Pour the food on top of the screen and the birds can eat off the table.  Any water in the form of rain won't accumulate and the mess will be easily controlled.  It's just another to-do. 

Check back to this very blog for an update in the near future.

Whoohoo...

I'll Huff & I'll Puff & I'll BLOW...

When I was knee high to a grasshopper my dad used to say, "March winds and April showers."  Here it is 50 to 60 years later and it's March and the wind has been whistling along like ugly on an ape, like white on rice, like... well, the wind has been blowing a pretty good lick just like my daddy said, so many years ago.

Blowing enough to take down one of the stained glass windows I had hanging from my pergola.  The frame just came from together.  The frame broke.  The glass broke.  I now have another todo for my list.

The remains of the frame are still swing'n in the wind.

I guess these pictures pretty much tell the story. 

Whoohoo...

Spring... Ahhhh Spring

Spring is my favorite time of year.

It's early for it to be spring but it's got to happen sometime.  The calendar still shows it to be winter but my aches and pains say spring has sprung. 

Why do I think it's spring... let me count the ways:

• I had to put on shorts today as my sweat pants made me... yep, sweat.
• I used 2 as in two sweat towels today.
• I started a project that requires a wheelbarrow and shovel.
• I killed my first mosquito of 2011.
• The lily pads we planted last year are sending up... are you ready... lily pads.
• Leo the leo-pard frog has appeared again.  This time with better color.
• Broke out my wide brimmed sun hat.
• Put the snow shovel away for the season.
• Turned on the irrigation system so Alejandro F. can and does do his/her job.
• Cleaned algae out of the V-pan which is part of the detention area next to my house... someone has to do it.
• I had to spray the honeysuckles with dormant oil.
• Daylight saving time starts this weekend.

There are probably other reasons it's spring but that's all that comes to mind at the moment. 
So Happy SPRING!

Whoohoo

First Frog 2011

We're not talking about some French guy here, we're referring to the amphibian kinda creature that hops and stays wet... versus the toad.

Do you know why the French are referred to as frogs?  I do.  I looked it up.  Do you really want to know?  OK, here it is... kind of a let down methinks...

Unconfirmed story #1: In the 18th century, Paris was surrounded by swamps and the visiting French nobles called the people of Paris, frogs in mockery. The name became national later when all French became popular as frogs irrespective of their environmental surroundings.

Unconfirmed story #2: One popular story regarding the origin of the name states that there were frogs on the French flag at one time, before the adoption of the Fleurs de Lis. If at one time, the French indeed had frogs on their national flag then that could certainly be counted as a reason as to why they are called frogs at times.

Unconfirmed story #3: A more logical theory regarding the weird nickname is related to a French delicacy called cuisses de grenouille, which is a dish consisting of a kind of frog’s leg. The habit of eating frogs can actually give French people the nickname frog indeed.  They ate snails too but we don't call them snails.

Unconfirmed story #4: American soldiers are also rumored to have given the French the nickname frog during the second world war because the French soldiers excelled in camouflage quite like frogs in the wild that are perfect ambush predators adept in concealing themselves... perfectly.

Unconfirmed story but I believe it: This story is related to the Second World War.  It states that the nickname was given to French army officers because they wore coats that were closed with special buttons made up of wood and ribbon. These buttons were called “frogs,” and thus the name spread.

There you have it... but French frogs (not to be confused with fries) isn't what I wanted to tell you about.  What I wanted to say was the leopard frog that I told you about last fall (story here) made an appearance this afternoon.  His skin was really dark and I had to look close to see his leopard markings but it was him.  Don't know if he will stay out or go back to sleep... heck, it's just the 3rd of March.  That's pretty early for the frogs to come out.

A spring teaser of the breathing and hopping kind.  Cool huh?

Whoohoo

Spitter's Sure Keep Me Busy...

Y'all are probably tired of hearing about my spitter's and the ups and downs of having spitter's as pets.  I feel for you and don't blame you one bit if you just quit reading this post 'cuz it's about spitter's.  The good.  The bad. The ugly, what used to be pretty, spitter's.

The good:  This has to do with Frick and Frack.  Do you remember them?  They are the latest addition in the spitter arena... not counting makeovers and head reattachments.  That would be them just to the right of these words. 

I was standing by the dining table looking at the pond... maybe just daydreaming... and got to thinking about Frick and Frack.  I was asking myself when the water suppy to these guys would deice enough for the water to start flowing.  So I moved over to where I could see them and would you believe I see water squirting in the air?  Here's a hearty WELCOME BACK to Frick and Frack.

The bad:  Well, there really isn't anything bad.  I just put that in the first paragraph because it felt necessary when talking about The Good and The Ugly.  Just how I am... just how I am.

The Ugly:  This is really bad... er, I mean ugly.  It's about Alejandro our gay spitter.  Remember the makeover s/he got back in December?  No?  Look here.  I thought she was beautiful... once the makeover was complete.  Well not so fast there four eyes... it would appear Alejandro has developed some kind of dandruff or peeling disease. 

As you can see, the dandruff or peeling disease is upon us and it seems to have progressed to a point where treatment such as touch-up or similar band-aids are beyond consideration.  About the only thing that is still looking good are the eye lashes... I really like them.

It's very sad to see her looking so -- well, so used -- so abused.  She reminds me of an old hooker down on B Street that hasn't figured out that time has passed her by.  Of course Alejandro is functional and will fill the pond as required once the freezing weather is over and I turn on the sprinklers.  But she is ugggggly.

I had purchased the finest quality outdoor latex paint that money could buy.  I'll be I spent $5.00 or maybe even $6.00 on this paint job and just look at it.  I'm thinking that I'll have to blast all the newly added paint and start anew.  So we will have to have a re-makeover... I guess we've all been there at one time or another.

Maybe this next time I should start with a sealer?  An oil based sealer maybe?  Would that give the exterior paint a better grip so it won't peel?  Maybe I need to seal the outside with some kind of clear coat?  I have to confess I just don't know what I need to do to make the paint job last.  BUT... I'm open to suggestions.  So if you know about this stuff or know someone who knows about this stuff I sure would appreciate a "heads up" on the painting process for yard art... er, I mean spitter makeover applications.

Stay tuned y'all.

whoohoo

Hector Update #3 ~ The Cure

After receiving the "second opinion" noted in the previous post we thought long and hard about what our next step should be in this arduous decision.  We narrowed our options to these:

1. Pound him to dust and spread his "ashes" along the path.
2. Just toss him into the trash can.
3. Attempt an epoxy repair, despite expert recommendations... what's to lose?

We selected option 3 with option 1 as plan "B."

I decided to use a paste epoxy with a 24 hour cure time.  I had some 5 minute curing epoxy but thought I wasn't fast enough with that to have it turn out OK.  Maybe afraid of the pressure of time constraints.  The paste epoxy is easy to use.  It comes in 2 small containers; 1 being black and the other being gray.  You mix it in a 1:1 ratio. 

I kept saying to myself, relax, it's just the opposite of a headectomy... no reason to stress.  Breath in... breath out.  In through the nose and out through the mouth.  Then I closed my eyes and began my Mantra.... Uummmmmmm, Uummmmmmm, Uummmmmm while trying to breath properly.  After about 30 seconds of this I opened my eyes and laughed my ass off... what a silly thing to do before playing with epoxy.

I mixed the epoxy, spread it as even as I could over where Hectors head used to be attached to his body, and then slapped on the top of his head... like an anti-Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland... "On with his head!!!" The Mad Hatter is relieved to hear.  Anyway.....

I placed Hectors skull cap on the curing epoxy and squeezed it into place.  The epoxy oozed out the sides some.  His skull cap didn't fit as smoothly as one might wish as the thickness of the epoxy would not allow the skull cap all the way down to it's original position. I felt it necessary to smear the epoxy over the seams in an effort to seal the wound from future water penetration... if he lives that long.

I then set him aside to dry and become cured.

Three days later I placed him aside the pond and hooked him to the water supply.  He spit.

 

He Spits!

I considered painting him so he didn't look like Al Jolson getting ready to sing "Mammy."  I decided not to do that as the "battle scars" appeal to me.  How many folks can say they undid what the Queen of Hearts wanted done?  None that I know of... How many folks have any idea what I'm talking about... probably not to many (but if you do I like you... your my kinda folk)!

Second Opinion Re: Hector

This is the email response I got from Hector's creators.  I guess it is good that it was quick and painless... for Hector that is...

I attached the same photos that are in my blog post (below) of February 14.

Jim,
I think that it is time to say goodbye to Hector. We no longer manufacture that piece and he looks broken beyond an epoxy repair. You have our condolences.
-Henri Customer Service


On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 12:09 PM, Jim Watson wrote:
From: Jim Watson
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2011 10:12 AM

To: feedback@henristudio.com

Subject: Broken Spitter
 The photos are of my spitter, Hector. Hector, as you can see in the pictures, has lost his head. I’m not sure Hector is one of your products so I took a picture of the inscription.

I’m writing for advise on how to get hector (like Humpty Dumpty) put back together again. I was thinking I would use epoxy and then paint him but also consider that repairs may not last and I might as well bury my dead spitter.

I would appreciate your opinion.

Regards,


Now I'll have to figure out if we will have a wake.  Maybe a funeral.  Or just cremate him (would need to use a sledge hammer I think to make dust).  I could put him in a gourd and blow him up I suppose.  Anyone with any ideas?
 
Boohoo

Hector Lost His Head

Like the little egg head named Humpty Dumpty, Hector also is in need of being put back together.  I'm thinking it will take more than all the Kings horses and all the Kings men to put Hector back together again.  Hector's place in the pond was very close to Humpty Dumpty Falls... maybe some of the bad karma was radiating over to Hector.

On the other hand, some might assume he lost his head due to a bad temper and others jump to conclusions that it's drugs and yet others might just think it's immaturity.  Me... I think it's ice.  No, no not meth, not Immigration and Customs Enforcement (do you need a green card for a Spanish Spitter?), not diamonds.  I'm talking about water in the frozen state... uno, ice.

Take a look at this picture and you will get an idea about what I'm talking about.

My theory or educated guess based on the preliminary autopsy is water got trapped in the major hose artery, that clear thing right down the middle of the bottom picture, and froze.  As ice freezes it expands and easily can crack spitters right down their hose artery.  The second possibilty is the water seeped into a crack and over time enlarged the crack and through numerous freeze thaw cycles finally popped his head off.

I'm ready to move forward with the delicate "head early reattachment procedure," HELP," which will require copious amounts of epoxy and a delicate hand.  I have the epoxy. 

I've also written to the manufacturer/importer with a plea for help and/or advise on the HEL-Procedure.  I suspect their suggestion will be to put Hector out of his misery but how much misery can a spitter be in with his head detached from his body. 

This whole thing just cracks me up... Hector too I guess.

Stay tuned and I'll advise what happened when I administer HELP.

Whoohoo

Pumps Must Hate Winter

I suppose a rational person would just shut down the pond during the winter versus go through all the trials and tribulations necessary to keep things working in sub-zero temperatures.  I suppose I just defined myself as irrational as I keep plugging away each winter to keep things working.

I have my giant iron persuader to discourage ice but the pond will still freeze over and the waterfalls will become ice dams.  The water level will drop as the ice builds.  The pump will suck air thus risking burn out.  Less water flow means more ice buildup.  I will have frozen extremities from doing battle with the ice.  I have backup garden hoses in case I don't drain a hose properly during the cold mornings.  So far I've been able to rationalize my way past these obstacles.

On Saturday I hit a new challenge that just about put me over the edge.  It's the pump... one winter in a row I had no problems with the pump and now I'm back at it again. 

The pump must have joined some organized work slowdown as less and less water was coming over the falls.  I noticed this earlier in the week and tried just unplugging the pump, let it back wash a little and then replug it and found the flow returned fairly well... maybe 70 to 80 percent.  After a day or two the slowdown would return.  I dreaded removing the pump as that requires someone, me, to actually stick both hands in the water and try and loosen the coupling that connects the pump to the pipes. 

Saturday the weather warmed to above freezing for the first time in quite a while.  I decided I should go for it with the sun out versus having a complete shutdown during a storm (remember the quote from Murphy Jr.,  "My father was an optimist!"). 

I wanted to try and drain the skimmer by covering the hole in front with a shower curtain.  I messed with it and actually got the water to go down past the coupling.  The problem was it leaked.  I would unplug the pump and try to turn the coupling nut but it was not cooperating and the water quickly refilled the skimmer.  I messed with it for a while and finally got the nut loose... the coupling nut that is... and reached down into the icy water and removed the pump.

To my chagrin I found nothing obstructing the pump and the skimmer quickly filled to the top with water.

I took a deep breath as I plunged my hand and arm as well as the pump into the water, setting the pump on the bottom of the skimmer.  Then I needed to reconnect the coupling nut.  Damn that water is cold.  My hands didn't want to hold onto the nut.  My hands didn't want to work at all.  I decided to try and just align the pipes and then turn on the pump with the hope that enough water would be forced up the pipe to get the water level low enough to secure the coupling without my hands having to be in the water.

That was a mistake.  If, in the future, I ever try this again I will stand back as a pump that outputs around 7000 gallons per hour will put up quite a spray of water... cold, icy water... to the tune of 4 or 5 feet through any crack (or unsecured coupling). 

Once dried off and after taking a "get warm" break I just plunged my hands into the icy depths, with resolve, and after a couple of tries was able to get the coupling nut tight.  I then turned on the pump and magically it was working at 100%. 

I can't explain what the problem was but surmise it could have been something in the pipe that was jiggled loose by the on/off action with the pump or possibly there is something laying in the bottom of the skimmer just waiting to replug the intake on the pump.

A couple of hours later I was talking with my son and telling him about the trials and tribulations of pond maintenance and he asked me why I didn't just use a syphon to keep the water in the skimmer at bay.  Hmmmm... good question.  Maybe my brain was as frozen as my hands.

Whoohoo!