Gourd Teaser

We're not even close to having much to show with the gourd trellis.  I thought it would be a nice gesture to share a few pictures of the, someday it will be exciting, gourd trellis.  To that end I present a picture of a baby gourd.

Here's one of Gourd Daddies little babies:

These little gals are two-toned.  When they are really small (new) they are upside down
compared to how you are accustomed to seeing them. Did you know there are male flowers
and female flowers?  The males contribute pollen, bees and similar creatures transport the
pollen to the female flower and then that magic thing happens and babies are created. Without
all three participants there will be no gourds.

OK, I got carried away and had to show you two pictures.  What can I say... I'm just another proud Gourd Daddy.

This little guy is about 10 days older than her little sister above.  As the temperatures
rise the gourds grow faster.  It's going to be an exciting fall at our gourd trellis.

Are you excited about gourds yet???   Well, maybe when they get bigger and hang down like bells from the trellis.  Come on over and take a look with your own eyes. Yea, that's when you won't be able to contain yourself.  I don't think I can wait that long.....

Whoohoo!!

Dragon Fly Phenom

Once again it was time to clean the skimmer of the pond. When I lifted the lid to expose the basket I was greeted by 4 dragon flies. They were reddish in color and in different stages of joining the dry world of flight, bug catching and mating.

I called for my wife and sister (visiting) to come and see these miraculous creatures. As I waited for them I watched one fly off. The first flight of it's life and it just knew how to do it... that alone is pretty amazing to this blog writer.

So wife and sister showed up and were as impressed as I thought they would be. My sister ran back inside the house to get her camera. I thought that was a grand idea so I went in for my camera too... I didn't run.

The life cycle of a dragon fly begins when the female lays eggs in a body of water. They prefer slow moving water that would be found in most ponds and swampy areas. The eggs hatch into what is termed a "nymph." The nymph is a fairly ugly look'n character that starts life eating small organisms and as the nymph grows it eats larger and larger things. Depending on the species of dragon fly, the nymph may eat small fish and tadpoles not to mention mosquito larvae. Also depending on the species and weather conditions in the water, the nymph might live in the water for 4 or 5 years.

These dragon fly nymph's will not emerge from their watery home until the weather is appropriate for them to be out and about... that is to say, they aren't going to come out in the late fall or winter when they would freeze their little abdomens off.

When they mature and the weather permits they will emerge from the water and attach themselves to a vertical surface. That's when the magic becomes visible to us mere humans. The dragon fly, like a butterfly emerges and begins to pump blood to it's wings and abdomen. It is quite vulnerable during this period as it can't fly until the wings dry. When it's ready it just flys away in search of food and a mate.

These mature dragon flies will only live a few weeks. During that time they will mate and lay eggs starting the cycle anew.

Here are some of the pictures. The first 3 are from the Internet (plagiarized).

A dragon fly emerging from the nymph shell (for lack of a better word).

After emerging from the nymph shell the dragon fly will usually just hang on to the shell and start with making it's wings
functional by pumping blood into them and letting them dry.

The wings start to unfurl not unlike the solar panels on a satellite.

You can see the dried body of the nymph on the left. Note the hole in it's back, this is where the dragon fly on the upper
right crawled out of the nymph. The light colored dragon fly is holding onto the nymph shell that it grew in.  It sure seems like
a lot of dragon fly to emerge from a relatively small nymph. When they emerge, like the light colored one, they are soft and pliable.  Some of the nymphs that are mature will look swollen and have colored abdomens on the underside. You can double
click the picture to open it and zoom in for a better look.

That's the amazing short story of the dragon fly from my pond.

Whoohoo!

String Algae Collection Device

I'm calling this version 1.2 of my home made "String Algae Collection Device."

This thing is pretty simple which is what makes it work so well.  Not to say there are not improvements to be made... I'm already working on version 1.3.

The "big gee-whiz" of this thing is the round handle which makes it easy to spin the tool and the algae collection end is splayed out to hook the string algae.

Insert tool in the pond and let it rest on the algae. Spin the tool and the algae wraps around the PVC pipe. Remove the tool from the pond and slide the algae off the end of the pipe... sorry, you have to use your hand.

All I can tell you is it works pretty well as a first pass to remove the large masses of algae.  Chemicals are needed for the cleanup and if I owned one a pond vacuum would be nice.

When you own a pond algae will always be present.  One of the key's to having an attractive pond is clear water, some plants, waterfalls and no algae.  It's the "no algae" part that is unattainable but algae can be managed.

To manage algae all you need is lots of time, a few coins, lots of time, patience, lots of time, more patience, chemicals, patience, additonal patience.....

It's too bad Billy Mays isn't with us anymore as I would have him selling these by the thousands! Sure...

Dontchaloveit?

Whoohoo!

Polly-Wolly-Doodle Not Today

My apology to my Frog Blog Fan for letting things lapse in the update arena for just shy of 20 days.  I have a plethora of excuses and even could come up with some plausible lies for the inattention to this here blog. I won't bore you with platitudes and cliches although that might be fun.

The pond is doing OK.  Just OK.  There are 2 goldfish living in the skimmer pond.  They have been there for quite a while.  I've tried to capture them but they just have too much room to out maneuver me... Ginger and the granddaughter. They will have to swim into the skimmer or will have to call this pond their new home.

In the toadlet arena there is only one report... that is fat goldfish. I was looking for any pollywog's or toadpole, any submarine and came up with zero.  It is inconceivable to me that there aren't a couple of survivors somewhere but if they're there they are well hidden.

The woodhouses toads continue to croak their serenade to the lady toads but even if more eggs were to be laid the goldfish would certainly eat the wogs.

I'm still going to keep my eyes open as I've been fooled before... no fool like an old fool they say.

Stop by tomorrow where I will reveal my string algae eradication tool.

Whoohoo 2 ya...

Fat Goldfish

My granddaughter was over today and of course we were out back checking on all the creatures.  She noticed that there were not any tadpoles in the bridge pond and very few to be seen in any of the other ponds.  I wasn't particularly concerned as in previous years the toadpoles had spread throughout the pond (see this link for example). 

Then I got to thinking about it.  Even dispersed there were a lot more toadlets in previous years.  I've been trying to figure out what was different.

At first I was thinking there was residue of the anti-algae chemical that I put in the pond earlier this year.  You know how it is with me... I always worry about these little guys and am the first to blame myself if anything goes wrong.  But honestly I couldn't see that as the cause.

The answer came from a comment my granddaughter made... she said the black gold fish sure was fat.  And then it dawned on me... this is the first year we have had fish in the pond during the toad procreation period.  Do ya think that's it?  I thought tadpoles had a bad taste so fish didn't particularly like to eat them.

Wrong thinking apparently!  Flawed research a few years ago I guess.  From what I've been able to find by researching on the internet (and of course everything your read about on the internet is true) goldfish as well as koi enjoy snacking on the little submarines.

That would certainly explain not finding many pollywog's cruising the waters of the, of late, porn pond.  With all the rock and algae plus the ease in which the toad spawn go over the waterfall I would think there is a pretty good chance of some survivors growing up to be next years visitors.  I will, of course, have to withdraw my statement about being up to my knees in toads this year.

What a dilemma for a toad daddy.  I had no problem with Joe eating birds but feel bad that the goldfish are eating tadpoles.  That doesn't make a lot of sense as Ma Nature is going to do her thing and some will survive versus letting the country side be overrun with toads like Australia was overrun with rabbits.

So I'll sit back and let 'Ol Ma N handle this issue.  I'll watch the algae grow... it grows faster than corn I can tell ya.

Two steps forward and one step back....

Whoohoo!

UPDATE to: Bullitoad #2011-4 & A Whoohoo!

I stand corrected... It DOES get better than a cubit plus 1 or a quad-fam... I'm calling it a penta-fam.  That's right folks.. penta as in 5... count 'em 5 set's of eggs and 5 pairs of toads.  This is unheard of.  Things are changing so fast I'm almost afraid to go outside.  Wow...  some toad must have put a sign up in the men's room or something to get all these lovers in the same pond almost at the same time.

WAIT!!!!!

This just in... would you believe there are 3 couples of Woodhouse's toad mating in the pond as I write this.  Ginger just came in with this startling news.  I find is apropos that the word origin for six is sex and in sextuplets. 

This whole thing today is so unbelievable.  I'm sure there will be some additional comments soon. Stay tuned for the latest and greatest at this very blog site. 

Whoohoo!!!!!

Bullitoad #2011-4 & A Whoohoo!

I just can't sit still.  Wait until you hear this!

I walked out to the pond this morning and there, there in the lily pads no less, was Clinton and Monica but their actions were much farther along than what was reported in the news years ago.

This means, since amphibians don't have recreational sex, that we are in for a cubit plus 1 or a quad-fam. There are going to be so many tadpoles, toadpoles, toadlets, toad minnows, pollywogs and submarines this place will look like a zoo... or maybe that should be a swamp.  Whatever... we are moving at warp speed into a new era of being a Toad Daddy (I need a logo).

So we have each bird house full and I hear little peeps from their homes.  We have a black bird nest in the trellis on the side of the house.  We have an unknown owner of a bird nest in the tree out front.  New salamanders and I saw a snake in the yard last week.  No new goldfish tho... wonder what their problem is...

Folks... It don't get much better than this!

Whoohoo!

Bullitoad #2011-3

There are more toadlets on the way!

Yesterday, a pair of Woodhouse's toads were doing their thing and left a really long string of eggs.  This is the first year we have had 3 Toad mating's... I'm a Toad Daddy cubed. 

Then, in the dark of night, I hear the male calling for another mate.  I think I'll name this toad Clinton.

These eggs should hatch much faster than the previous eggs as the water is warmer now.

Glad I didn't add more algae kill juice.

Whoohoo!!

Bullitoad #2011-2

My pond is green... and it ain't "with envy" that is for sure.  On the other hand the new tadpoles that were able to hatch are alive and well.  I'll not post pictures again as once you see a tadpole they all pretty much look alike. So here is a link to previous pictures that I've taken: LINK.

My estimation of the number of toadpoles is about 500.  Not as many as in previous years but it's good they are represented in the pond.

In other pond news:

• The string algae is alive and well and we have a bumper crop... best year ever I'm sorry to say.
• Leo the Leopard Frog is still hang'n around.  No mate and Leo seems to have given up on croak'n for a lady friend... sorry Leo.
• The horrendous winds we had over the Memorial Weekend were amazing to see.  Waterfalls were blown backward.  Lily pads were twisted around each other.  Huge amounts of tree leaves and twigs were netted and picked from the pond.

That's the latest.

Whoohoo.

Oliental Lily

This is the coming out of our "Oliental Lily's."  These are more of the seasonal blooms that take place in the spring.  I just wanted to share :)

Whoohoo!!

Bullitoad #2011-1

I've been watching the area in the pond where the eggs were laid.  As I stated in my previous post some did not hatch and I was thinking most were doomed.  It has been cold and rainy and that clearly has had an impact on the speed of the eggs maturing into toadpoles.

Every here and there I would see the wiggle of a tail on these little eighth-inch long creatures.  This was nothing like we saw in previous years.

While awaiting the outcome of these newly procreated (or is that procreants) toad minnows the algae has been growing like there is not tomorrow.  Maybe the algae didn't get the memo that the world was NOT going to end on Saturday, May 21.  Regardless of the reason the algae is way out of control and the pond is getting kind of green. 

I was counting on the pollywog's to emerge en masse and start eating the algae.  So I decided I needed to decide what I was going to do.  I figured I had two choices; 1. Let the pond go as is and hope the little creatures get with the program and start eating or 2. Administer the magic chemicals to the water and clear up the algae but possibly kill any toadlets that have hatched.

I'm here to tell you the toadlets won.  No chemicals... at least not yet.  I took my net and stirred up the water in the area where the eggs had been laid.  I was quite surprised to see lots of future toads swimming in the eddies I created. 

It was a warm day today so maybe we're past the "I'm too cold to move" stage and we can get on with growing up... and eating algae.

So that's the news from Red Tail Ridge today. 

More bullitoads as these guys get on with the program.

Think LIFE!  Yea!!!

Whoohoo!!!

Doad Taddy

That title doesn't say Toad Daddy... This is a good news bad news story.

Last week I wrote about procreation and becoming a toad daddy... lots of whoohoo's and yee-haw's.  It would appear, however, the first batch of eggs are not going to hatch.  The eggs are still there but I see no movement inside.  I inspected a few eggs up close on Saturday and believe there is no life there.  The eggs were limp and black with very little substance to them.

On a positive note, I have seen movement coming from the batch of eggs of the second pairing that closely resembles the flipping of a toadpole's tail.  So a lot of Whoo and a little Boo. 

This has been the coldest May since I've lived in Grand Junction and the temperature has a definite correlation to the length of time it takes between the laying of the eggs and hatching.  It also affects the growth of the pollywogs... warmer is faster.

In regard to the batch of "dead" eggs; I'm thinking there are but two possibilities that may have caused this apparent non-event.
1.  The first male frog has taken advantage of Obama Care on a trial basis and was sterilized because he is way too ugly and thus shouldn't mate, plus... he doesn't vote.
or
2.  The chemicals I used to knock down the algae are affecting the egg maturation.  The warnings on the AlgaeFix container stated it did not hurt plants or fish.  I realize toads and toad eggs are neither of these but I thought it safe to use.

One last thought to keep in mind.  In review of my comments in the past two years about the toad eggs and toadlets it appears to this Toad Daddy that I'm pretty dog-gone pessisimistic in consideration of the toughness of toad eggs and the resulting wogpoles.  Mama Nature has been at this a lot longer than I've been watching so I should leave her to do her business.  On the other hand... do you think she has heard of AlgaeFix?

Stay tuned for bullitoads (bulletins/toads).

Bhoohoo

Iris

The Iris is a glorious flower.

I am warm
from your touch:

Flower ~ Eye
Body ~ Body
Creature ~ God

We are all Warm.

by: Charles Paisley


Spring!  The awakening!  Feel it! Sing IT!  BE IT!!!

Whoohoo!!!

Columbine

This year is the first year we have planted the Colorado state flower.  Our first flower has made it's entrance and a beauty she is. 

Colorado state flower: The Columbine

Hopefully this is only the first of many dainty columbine flowers.  I guess I'm kind of goofy as there is something about the first flower that's new to us... it's just a little extra special. 

Whoohoo!!

Step 3 1/2 of Procreate ~ Toads

Just when you thought it safe to let the kids play outside we find 2 more toads who have heard about the procreate song and dance.  Thus this post is labeled: Step 3 1/2.  I'll not bore you with additional details mostly because I don't have any more information to give you.  I'll show you the picture's so you can rest assured these are new contributors and thus a little mix'n it up in the gene pool... or pond.

These toads clearly have different markings than the pair in the previous post.

Some of you may wonder just how is it I can recognize one pair of toads from another.  I have to confess I cheat... I look at their name tags :)

Whoohoo...

Step 3 of Procreate ~ Toads

Step one was the male wooing the female to the area he claimed in the pond.
Step two was the sweet talk and latching onto the female.
Step three is the actual laying and fertilizing of egg strings.

Once again I am posting pictures of step 3 for all you voyeurs out there and also for those that just don't know how big toads make little toads.  An added bonus is seeing a toad egg string.

With the male firmly attached to the female she starts to expel strings of eggs.  The males job is to fertilize them as they exit the female.  This is a pretty subtle thing and is done over the course of hours.  The pictures below were taken during the fourth hour of toad mating bliss.  Can you tell how excited they are?  I can't either! As I write this we are well into our fifth hour and things are looking just the same as it did during the fourth hour except they have moved.

She at least has her eyes open.  He, on the other hand, looks like the effort is beginning to take its toll.

The female is definitely in the drivers seat.  If she decides to dive she dives and he had best be holding his breath.  The male
letting go doesn't seem to be an option.

The difference between toad eggs and frog eggs is the toad eggs appear to be a string of eggs as seen in these pictures.  Frog eggs are more of a gelatinous mass.  Hopefully Leo the Leopard Frog will finally attract a mate and we will have something to compare.

While we wait for Leo to catch-up these toad eggs are already on their way to maturity.  It will be Monday or Tuesday when we will see the tiny polliwogs (tadpoles, toadpoles, toadlets) moving and hatching from their individual egg.  They will eat algae for the most part. Once the egg laying is complete the toads will have nothing more to do with the eggs or toadpoles.  We may, however, see this same couple back in a few weeks... hope they don't lose their name tags so I'll be able to ID them.

This is the first year we've had fish in the pond and it will be interesting to see if they munch on toadlets.  I've read where many creatures won't eat them because they taste bad but I have no idea if goldfish have read the same article.  Even if the goldfish eat toadlets there will be plenty that survive as they will go over the water falls and be distributed throughout the pond as they have done in past years.  Let not your heart be troubled... we aren't in charge, this is Ma Nature's deal.

I have covered much of the toad mating and toadlet growing in previous blog posts.  You can, of course, navigate to previous posts and if you do so you will then know all I know about toads and toadlets.

I'll update this very blog as the events materialize.  This is so exciting!!!!

Whoohoo!!

Precursor to Become a Toad Daddy!

For the past couple of years I've had the honor of becoming a "Toad Daddy." That is to say, the big toad creatures lay eggs, these become toadpoles (or something like that) and toadpoles become baby toads that magically disappear. We know not where they go but we certainly know where they came from.

Apparently all that "noise" that the Woodhouse's Toad makes is but sweet nothings to the ear of the female toad.

He hangs on tight and there is not a chance he will be leaving his post until the intense drive is satisfied and they have done their best to further the species.

No eggs have yet been deposited on the rocks.  Maybe he has to talk her into it.  What a way he must have to be able to screech and carry on for hour after hour during the night and then to start a new day, still alert and hold in his arms his true love of the hour.
Now some may look upon this couple and just arbitrarily name them ugly and icky (not necessarily in that order), but I submit for your careful consideration the tried and true statement, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," and he clearly be hold'n her.

Next week we will probably have the little black heads with tiny tails stick out and they will, hopefully, grow from toadlets to toads. 

Being a Toad Daddy isn't my mission in life but I'm still proud to support these screamers in their annual push to further toad kind.

And let us not forget that Leo the Leopard Frog is still faithfully singing his song both day and night in hopes of following in the footsteps of the Woodies.

Stay tuned.

Whoohoo!!

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...