Critters

Creature Sightings

 

The Muse has been off gallivanting about the country.  Around the 4^th of July holiday she went to Philadelphia to meet Nick for a visit to the Barnes Collection   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes_Foundation), Longwood Gardens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longwood_Gardens), and other sites in the area.  Mrs. T had a relatively good time; you can all easily imagine her in one of the premier gardens in the US.  She returned for barely a week and then left again for Idaho to visit sisters Rita and Ruth.  The featured event there was the birth of a grandson to Rita's son and his wife.  Again, it will be left to your imagination as to the behavior of three grandmotherly types.

 

Somehow we also managed to entertain visits from friends John, Judy and Ethan, and then later from some of R's plant buddies Rebecca, aka Mouse, Kim and her daughters.  Mrs. T provides some of the highlights of those visits below.

 

 

 

Some of our friends have inquired about Stinky, the Stinkpot Turtle who lived in our pond when we first built it.  Alas, he is gone.  No, not dead as far as I know; he just wandered away.  Dan supposes he went in search of turtle companionship.  However we do have a new turtle whom I have named Sinky.

 

Sinky just appeared one day.  I have not been able to ascertain what type of turtle he may be.  My best guess is possibly a soft shelled turtle.  Whenever I try to creep close to get a good look at him he sinks slowly to the bottom of the pond, hence his name.  I have not seen him recently but one of our guests reported seeing him eating fish food; when they approached for a better look, he sank.  Sinky is not quite as big as Stinky, perhaps about 7 or 8 inches in diameter.  He certainly is not as social but still it is nice to catch the occasional glimpse.

 

One of our other pond denizens Slinky is a bit more disconcerting.  Slinky is a water snake. Slinky is quite small, about as big around as a pencil and perhaps a foot or so long.   Much to my chagrin I have gotten several good looks at him.  I think he is a Kirkland Water Snake.  His one redeeming quality is that I seem to make him just as nervous as he makes me.  Whenever he sees me he swims frantically away.  I know he could not possibly hurt me and is not poisonous but I just can not feel too fond of Slinky.  Dan, of course, is continually saying silly things such as, "Snakes are our friends."  (Some of you may recall our previous encounter with a black snake; they are also our friends. –dt)  I think this probably says more about Dan and his friends than it does about any social relationships I have or ever will have with these reptiles.

 

One day I found a cast off Slinky skin.  I put it aside too keep for some friends who were coming for a visit, knowing boys were fond of such things.  I was surprised when Ethan (our young friend) found another Slinky skin by the pond.  Ethan took both of the skins home with glee.  Could there be two Slinkys?  Alas yes. 

 

A couple of weekends later some of my plant-lover friends came to visit.  Rebecca (this is not me but another Rebecca) brought me a couple of water lilies and volunteered to plant them for me.  She was hip deep, trying to position one perfectly when suddenly she said, "It's a snake!"

 

"Get out, get out!!" I urged.

 

"It's OK; it doesn't bother me," she bravely replied.

 

"Well, OK if you're sure," I replied realizing who would have to get in the pond to plant the things with a scary snaklet if my friend Rebecca did not.

 

"Oh no, now if it were a spider that would be different," she blithely replied.  (I'm scared of spiders too.)

 

As we watched, Slinky approached Rebecca cautiously and looked the situation over.  Then he swam away.  He is curious, I thought.  He is trying to see what she is doing.  Rebecca resumed planting and a moment later another Slinky approached from the opposite end of the pond.  He looked at the new plant and left.  After one more inspection visit I was forced to conclude we have not one but at least three shy but curious little Slinky snakes.

 

Of course we have the usual deer, groundhogs, and wild turkeys wandering through.  But the other day Dan spied some new and different critters.  Yes trotting down our driveway were a couple of porkers.  They were not sociable and scooted off when he tried to approach.  Investigation proved that these were escapees from our neighbor.   And after he was notified we have seen no more of them.  (We will probably be buying half a hog later this year. –dt) There is supposed to be a problem with wild hogs in the area but we, thankfully, have seen none of those.  (Hunters in Ohio are allowed to shoot any wild boars they see; no permit is required. –dt)

 

I did see a beautiful red fox earlier in the year. Also, as this has been a very warm summer, we have also seen a lot of little salmanders scurrying around.  Alas no bats have taken up residence in our bat box.

 

This in brief is the wildlife report from the Terrible Wildlife Preserve.  If you urban dwellers visit you may also see something a bit out-of-the-ordinary; no promises however.

 

Hope you all are enjoying your summer weather, probably hotter than normal for most of you.

 

Dan and Rebecca

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