Among The Elephant's Foot

Short on time this morning, but I wanted to share some of the critters nectaring in a patch of Elephant's Foot along my driveway.
One of the benefits of not mowing ...

Skinkyness

About two weeks ago, I found a big dead skink in a bucket stored under the shed. He had fallen in and couldn't escape and it was my fault. So, I tipped over empty buckets and stuck an escape stick into a couple that were half full of aquarium gravel or hardware.


Somehow, I missed this old metal feed can stuck in the back corner of the shed.
Dang it!

But wait! This one is alive!
Well, all right!
You can see it's a fairly large lizard for a native. I have to add, "...for a native", because we have so many big exotic lizards loose in south Florida.


Underside view.

Head and shoulders portrait.

Nice ears!

Skinks have a very snakey face to me and they move in a sinuous slithery run too. They feed on a variety of insects and other small inverts. I've watched one lapping up ants one after another in the sand by the barn. The skink just perched himself next to an ant trail and lunch was delivered, one after another.

The ants, little mindless robots that they are, could not avoid him. They were slaves to a pheromone trail and could only do as the chemical scent told them.

"... to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee."

Captain Ahab

They are wiggily fast, and a little harder to hold on to than a green anole, so I was expecting something like this to happen.

It's a pinch, not a puncture, so it doesn't really hurt.

And yes, I turned that old feed can upside down after the release.

Bamboozled

Never look a gift bamboo in the mouth.
Even if the "gift"requires two days of butt-busting work.

This is our haul from last week's bamboo expedition. That truck load represents hours of hot, sweaty, manual labor that included digging, hacking, sawing, and toting.
The bamboodinous bounty came to us by word of mouth. A friend of a friend had more bamboo than he knew what to do with and was willing to give some away.
And it wasn't that wimpy hedge bamboo, it was timber boo! The giant stuff!

Now, I love bamboo. Yes, yes, I know some types spread like crazy, ... I know that! Okay?
So no need to warn me about it taking over. I can handle a giant grass with attitude.
The problem with giant timber type bamboo is ... I can't afford it. So when this guy offered some for free... " Just come dig it up." ... I was not about to let that go by.

We wound up in the middle of Gainesville, on a three acre yard that had so much beauty and variety in the plantings ... you didn't know where to look next. It was literally a green oasis in the heart of the city.
The homeowner was very kind and walked us around pointing out the various types of bamboo growing in thick thickets ... that's redundant isn't it? Thickets are thick by the very fact of being a thicket.
When he had shown it all to us, he left us with a "Have at it!", and we did.


For about 3 hours, we dug, chopped, and pulled bamboo rootballs from the ground. The plants themselves were probably 40 feet tall at least, so we had to cut the culms off. We couldn't very well drive through Gatortown with trees hanging out the back of the truck.
The white trash bags are protecting the roots from drying out on the living bamboo plants. Beneath them are the cut pieces of bamboo that we brought home to dry out for whatever crafty thing we think of.

We got home after dark. I hosed down the bamboo and left it overnight. The next morning, I got up and started digging again ... this time in MY yard. Another couple of hours went in to digging and planting the boo.


I have some existing bamboo that I purchased long ago and it was nothing more than a bare stick when I bought it, so I'm hoping we got enough of a root ball on these culms to survive and grow.
In the picture above, one of the plants is waiting it's turn to be planted.


All the literature says that good watering is the secret to getting bamboo plants over the shock of transplanting, so I saturated each of the planting holes by letting the hose run until the hole was full.

I also planted them together and convenient to a hose, so I could water them each day if needed.

Ideally, the rock hard stump from the old horsey swing turkey oak will someday be invisible in a thicket of bamboo.

It will be a long time before I know if any of these rootballs survived the shock and are growing. I'm hoping for the best, but if even one makes it, I will be totally stoked.

Runs With Wolf

It's been a busy week here in Pure Florida. School began Monday, so I'm back at work, the days are hectic and flow quickly from start to finish ... no dead time in teaching. That is something about teaching that I've liked from the start, over 20 years ago. Swine Flu is spreading through our school like ripples in a pond, so Mrs. FC is incredibly busy since she is in charge of saving the county from epidemics like this one. We had one confirmed case on the first day and each day since has seen more kiddies going home with the symptoms.

It's been a rainy week too, with daily downpours off the Gulf of Florida. Wonderful sheets of rain beginning like clock work at quittin' time. Since I get off work first, (Jr has football practice till 6pm), I am usually the one to dash home and rescue Bear ... and cook supper.
Two chores I love doing, by the way.

Yesterday, I left a little earlier than usual, which means I didn't stay and work a few hours after quitting time. On the way home, in a driving rain, I looped into Devil's Hammock to see if I could grab you guys a photo of some critter moving in the rain.

Turns out it was raining a little too hard for that to happen, but use your imagination and picture a big 6 point buck in velvet bursting out of the willows and running in front of the JEEP for a few seconds before bursting back into the willows.
Yup, I missed that picture.

I didn't stay long, because Bear was home with his legs crossed by now, wondering if he should chew up the couch or wait a few more minutes for his relief to come home.

Arriving at the house in a driving rain, it was clear that I was going to get soaked just walking from JEEP to porch. On top of that, Bear needed his walk, so a good soaking was unavoidable.
For the briefest of moments, I grumbled to myself about this fact, ... poor me. I'm gonna have to stand around in the rain while he sniffs every blade of grass and urinates on 9 out of 10 trees we pass.

By now I was on the porch, dripping wet as I had predicted. As I put the key in the lock, with Bear barking frantically from the other side of the door, I had an epiphany.

Opening the door, I walked past the frantic, barking, leaping Labrador and straight into my room. I shed my clothes, tossing on only a pair of shorts and some old sneakers, and then Mr. Frantic and I went out into the rain.

I was already wet, gonna get wetter, so I might as well enjoy it.

So we ran.
In the rain.
Not just any rain, heavy, tropical, sheets of rain.
We ran off the porch leaping past the steps.
We ran down the driveway ... he only stopped once to pee!
We ran through the woods to the pond, around and around the growing pond, through the water, up the slope and into the woods again.
We ran through spider webs (eeeek!).
Jumped over logs and lept across meteor craters (wink!).
I should have been tired and winded ... was it the rain?
Was I growling? Yes, I think I was, now that I look back on it.
We spooked the cottontail ... and gave chase in the rain.
It ducked into a gopher burrow. Good thing... I think if we had caught it we would have killed and eaten it on the spot.
We were a pack.
Finally he felt nature calling in a different way and stopped to take care of business. (No, I did not)
Standing there, waiting for Bear to finish, I noticed that the rain had weighed down the wild grape vines so that what was usually out of reach was now reachable.
I stuffed whole handfuls of rain washed grapes in my mouth and then we were off again.
Running.
Running with a wolf.
Running like a wolf.
Feeling pretty damn primal.
Today, I'll be in my classroom in professionally nerdy clothes... acting pretty civilized, but yesterday ...

... yesterday I was a wolf in the rain.

PW Fruit vs FC Fruit

One of the things I learned from the birding folks who drop by Pure Florida is that Pileated Woodpeckers love magnolia seeds.
It had just never occurred to me that a tree whacking, bug seeking, feathered missle would eat fruit.

In some long ago post, when I wondered outloud why the PW's were shaking the hell out of my magnolia tree, y'all educated me about their feeding habits.
Now I see them in there quite often and I am seeing lots of young 3 foot tall magnolia seedlings out in my woods, usually beneath a perfect perching/pooping branch from an older oak.
Sweet!


This is what the PW's are after.

This is what I'm after.

The bronze scuppernong grapes are finally beginning to ripen!

Circles, Pie Are Squared Donch'a Know?

I hated geometry class in high school. I didn't see the use for proofs. In fact my brain seemed to freeze when we had to do them. It was frustrating, because I was always a good math student, not a natural like Billy, but I could usually pull A's with some effort.

Not in geometry though.
I was typical in my thinking that, "I would never use this stuff."
Mostly that is true ... at least regarding proofs, but in building things I use the A squared + B squared = C squared all the time ... and these days, I find myself needing to figure the volume of aquaculture tanks every once in a while.

Still it was a rough year in geometry class back in 1974. The geometry teacher was the Junior Class sponsor and the following year he and I worked closely on Prom preparations as I was the Junior Class President. I was busting my butt the morning of prom with the usual 6 kids who actually show up to help decorate, when he turned to me and said, " You know, last year in geometry class, I thought you were sort of a jerk, but you are all right."

I set my hammer down and smiled.

"Why, Mr. Bacon I was just thinking the same thing about you."


Okay students...
Below are two circles of sand created by ants in my driveway. Were they paying attention in class or what?
This may just be me, but the top lighter picture is weirding me out because almost every time I look at it, the circle seems depressed with the center area higher ... as if the circle was a groove.
It's like one of those funky magic picture pictures and I have to look at it from the side to see it as it really was.
I
Is it just me?

This darker ring of excavated sand only a few feet away looks perfectly normal to me.
Odd.

Also odd that every excavating ant walked a set distance from the hole to deposit their load. Probably nothing more than the amazing combination of instinct and pheromones, but still a neat little wonder.

Just a little something Bear and I found on our walk.

Fritting Down On The Ground

Dude, get your own lantana. This one is mine.



The yellow lantana that surrounds the powerpole at PFHQ was alive with Gulf Fritillary butterflies Sunday afternoon.

I spotted them as I walked by to put up some tools after planting a bunch of giant bamboo (later post). I was so tired and sore from two days of digging and hacking and planting bamboo that I just plopped down in the grass. It felt good to sit and I shot a bunch of shots as the GF's worked the blossoms.



I think this is my favorite butterfly, from their spiky punkrocker larvae to their brilliant adult colors, they are a feast for the eye.

...unlike this unrewarding little snack for the eye.

Talk about "What Not To Wear"... never wear offwhite to an orange party.

Hang In There, It's The First Day Of School!

Gotta hop to it this morning.

I hope to be back in the evening with an update on how opening day went.

UPDATE:

MY FEET HURT. I HAVEN'T WORN GROWN UP SHOES ALL SUMMER AND MY FEET THINK THEY WANT THEIR SNEAKERS BACK.

IT WENT WELL ... WELL ENOUGH THAT THERE'S NOT MUCH TO SAY ABOUT IT.

THAT IS A GOOD THING, EVEN IF IT DOESN'T MAKE FOR AN EXCITING BLOG POST!

To Quote General McAuliffe, "NUTS!" Let The Culinary Throwdown Begin

It's time children for the next installment of Chef Troll's Culinary Throwdown!

The secret ingredient? PEANUTS!
The rules?

• Create a dish that utilizes peanuts as an essential ingredient.
• Create 3 such dishes, one entree, one desert, and one of your choice for consideration as the GRAND PRIZE CHEFMEISTER!
• Post your creations and send an "I'm Up" comment here so everyone can go sample your dishes.

My personal peanut project is a random mix, not 3 courses meant to complement each other.

Let's start with desert ... a little dish I call, "School Teacher Hasn't Had A Paycheck Since June 12th Bananutty Surprise".




Here it is.
In the picture above, working from the plate up, we have a banana pancake and a scoop of Blue Bell Peaches and Cream ice cream, all topped off with a maple/peanut sauce.


The sauce consists of a little dark pure maple syrup from the frozen north combined with Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter. Zap it in the microwave to warm the ingredients and stir to mix.

A simple desert (or a bodacious breakfast) made with cheap, everyday stuff.


My entree continues the simple is good and affordable at the end of the summer theme.
What's in the bowl?
Well, rice of course. Complementing the rice is a straightforward, nofrufru stirfry of peanuts, chicken, red cabbage, garlic, green onion, and bell pepper.
The sauce coating it is a mix of teriyaki sauce, vinegar, wine, tabasco sauce, Black Widow Sauce (HOT!), and some cornstarch for thickening to a nice glaze.

It was deliciously simple, spicy, and good for ya' too. I love the way red cabbage holds up to the hot wok and retains a firm texture.


For my "your choice" entry, I give you Ada Marie's home made peanut brittle, produced on her granite countertop in her beautiful cypress log home. This brittle is thin and ... well, brittle, like peanut brittle should be. The peanuts are the star, not the sugar and you don't bust a tooth when you eat it.
It's amazing.
Full disclosure ... Ada Marie made this not me. That may not be allowed, so just to be safe, I include this one final dish. A dish I posted about back in 2005 and one I searched through my 1800 + posts to find for you.
This amazing, perfect, culinary combination of complementary flavors and textures ...
This southern tradition ...
This connection to my childhood ...
This snack, supper, lunch, breakfast, desert meal...
This pick me up, toss me back into the fray, fortitudinal food ...

THIS.

Mermaid's Wineglass

When you look up Mermaid's Wine Glass (Acetabularia crenulata), you get very short entries.
I suppose either Mermaid's Wine Glass (MWG) is a very boring algae ... or, we just don't know it's secrets.

I know this, it covers the shallow bottom of much of Hagen's Cove. The clear shallow water allows lots of light to penetrate so MWG can do it's photosynthetic magic.

It needs a place to perch, ... any old shell will do. Each little clump in the cove seemed to have an ancient scallop shell anchoring it to the sand.

On the day I found this little clump, I wasn't prepared to bring some back to my lab aquariums, but now that school is starting, I need to make another trip up to the cove ... oh darn.

The little black drum, killifish, mollies, and sheepshead minnows I collected earlier in the summer are doing great in the big community tank in my lab. They have adjusted to store bought food, but every once in a while I pop a frozen clam out of the freezer, thaw it, and dice it up for them.
If fish could smile, they would. They go nuts over clams.

One of the cool things I learned at that aquaculture training at Harbor Branch was how to make that really expensive (in the pet store) refrigerated soft fish food.
So they don't know it yet, but the fish are gonna get some gourmet home "cooking" soon.

... and my student's don't know it yet, but they are gonna do the "cooking".



***DON'T FORGET, IF YOU ARE PARTICIPATING IN THE PEANUTTY CULINARY THROWDOWN, TOMORROW IS THE DAY TO POST YOUR GOODIES. THEN BE SURE TO DROP BY HERE AND TELL US YOU ARE UP!

What's In The Pipeline? Pipevine

Pipevine Swallowtail Larva

This baby was hanging out in the virginia creeper that is invading my blueberry patch. It was twilight when we met, so I had to use flash to grab a sharp picture of this sleek beauty. This caterpillar will metamorphose into one of our prettiest butterflies ... and we have some beauts down here in the subtropics.

What else is in the pipeline?

• There is going to be great surf at St. Augustine this weekend... perhaps ten foot swells due to Bill. Dangerous, enticing. Lots of rips, but the surfers (my big brother included) will probably be out there tearing up some waves. The nanny weather channel is already telling everyone to stay out of the water ... they drive me crazy.

• I have a line on some timber bamboo available for the taking, so I may be digging and hacking tomorrow. If so, I'll post about it of course. I love bamboo, the bigger the better ... size matters with bamboo.

• There is still time to cook up your entry for the Peanut Culinary Throwdown. The " UP" day is this Sunday, the 23rd of August. All you have to do is fix a dish that has peanuts as an essential ingredient. You can do just one dish or go for the Throwdown Master status by cooking an entree, a desert, and one other dish that involves peanuts. All you have to do Sunday is post about your dishes, recipes are optional, you can just show and tell us. After you post it, come over here and tell us you are "UP" in the comment section. May the best nut win.

• The late summer/early fall wildflower flush is coming on so be prepared for some wildflower shots. I saw some liatris in the swamp last week that were just all buds a'burstin'.

• School is looming directly in the pipeline ... starts Monday. For me, it started last Monday of course. School is why there was no post yesterday. I thought I would post on my lunch hour, but for some reason the school antipictureofaboob internet filtering software filtered Pure Florida out.

• I have decided to step outside my comfort zone and become the girl's soccer coach for our little school. They can't get anyone, I need the money, and the girls have asked me repeatedly. Why is this outside my comfort zone you ask? Anyone who really knows me, knows this ... I'm not a ball sports guy ... I don't follow any teams, don't get excited over sports "heroes", can NOT talk sports trivia and stats with the guys (and damn glad of it)... you get the picture.

Plus... these are teenage girls, so there's gonna be drama from time to time. Sorry ladies, but it's true. I've raised em, I teach em ... there will be drama.

I am not overtly competitive either ... unless I have a personal stake in the team. For me, this has traditionally meant that one or more of my kids was playing. I think zeal will not be a problem once these girls become "my" girls, so getting fired up to kick some soccer butt should not be a problem for me.

On the plus side, I HAVE watched a bazillion soccer games as the kids have grown up, so the sport is not alien to me and I confess to liking the nonstop action of soccer.

So, I have some background knowledge and there is plenty of time to learn more about strategy and rules before the season begins.

And I have Junior who is a soccer whiz kid and a thing of beauty on the soccer field. He's gonna be tutoring his old man instead of the other way around for a change.

What's looming in your pipeline?

Not Really Wordless Wednesday

Rafting down the Nantahala River.

We chose a little rafting company called Brookside Campground in Topton, NC, based on a relatives recommendation.

For 20 bucks each, we got a raft with guide. That's about half price for most of the outfitters up here. The guide was capable and funny, a college kid working his summer away and he added some nice local color to the float.

I liked the way he called out advice to rafters and kayakers stuck on rocks or flipped over. It was general concern, not showing off.

We always use a guide on new water, but after rafting on this day, I could see rafting or kayaking this stretch without a guide under similar flow conditions.

The water was cold, about 47 degrees according to the guide. This was because it was dam controlled and the flow came from the bottom of the reservoir above the dam.

It felt great. When you come from the land of 85 degree Gulf of Florida water, it's nice to feel something a little different.

I'm sure the rafting companies would frown on it, butI could not help thinking, "Bear would love this."

Wild Muscadine Picking and Juicificationating

I was out back, trimming some branches last week when I happened to look up and notice the wild muscadine vines.
They were sagging under the weight of their fruit.
Sweeeet!
Literally.
Sunday morning, I grabbed a colander and went a pickin'.


After all the easy low ones were picked, I activated the grapepickerelevatorial device and ascended into the trees where luscious clumps of darkly sweet fruit awaited.


The muscadine family isn't big on clustering so these groupings are about as good as it gets. They also don't all ripen at the same time in a cluster ... often ... but for some reason this year most of the clusters were at the same point of ripenicity.
That was much appreciated, because muscadine picking can be much like blueberry picking where you spend a lot of time picking individual fruits.


Here's a nice set.

After a while, I had a full colander and now the question was ... what the heck am I gonna do with all these wild grapes?

I was not motivated to make jelly, wine, or other labor intensive dishes, so I decided on juice.

Yes, juice would be fine and it had the added benefit of being a stepping stone to those other dishes should I feel inspired later.


The first thing I did was wash the grapes well under warm water to remove critters, twigs, leaves, etc.

Then I put the grapes in a large pot and added just barely enough water to cover them. This pot was allowed to simmer for about 20 minutes.During this time, I used a hand potato masher thingie to crush as many of the grapes a I could. When the mashing and simmering was complete, I allowed the pot of grapes to just sit and cool down for awhile.

When the blue pot had cooled, the grape mush was poured through a cone-shaped colander so the juice could drain into a bowl. I used a plastic spoon to force as much of the juice as possible through the strainer.

The grapes produced a nice amount of juice which I poured into a container to store in the fridge.

The guidelines said the juice would settle and separate overnight, but the next morning it was still beautifully colored ... which is just fine with me.

This morning, I took my first real sampling taste of the end product and it was delicious. Not as sweet as store bought grape juice, but really, really good.

And just look at all those dark phyto-pharmaceuticals in that glass ... gotta be good for ya.

From this point, I could make syrup, jelly, or wine ... with a little more kitchen work.

I think I may just drink it though.

It's that good.

Oops!

A couple of years ago, one of my friends who owns a backhoe dug out a small pond hole above the main pond. It was a wet year and the hole quickly filled.



Later it quickly emptied and it has stayed empty to this day. There is just enough room to drive between it and my forest's edge. I do that from time to time when I want to loop by the "pond" on the way in to the property.



Saturday, I pulled off the driveway after spending two hours driving through a swamp nearby looking for critter photos. As I pulled in the drive, I turned towards the pond to check the water level. I was going pretty slow, just enjoying the early evening calm, when ... CLUNK!

The JEEP dropped off the edge and into the mini-pond hole!

Actually it didn't drop off the edge ... the edge collapsed where some critters had excavated beneath it.

Lucky for me, this happened at home where all the goodies I needed to excavate myself were at hand. Here I am modeling the essentials:

• rope


• come-a-long jack ... that's what my Dad always called these hand winches, you may have a different name.


• shovel


• sheepish look over a goofy predicament


• camera and tripod for blogging this later
  

Here's the view from the driver side.




When the side caved in, the right front wheel dropped straight down to the bottom of the hole. This caused the JEEP to wedge itself securely on it's forward frame.
The rear passenger-side wheel came up off the ground as you can see in the picture above. The JEEP was so perfectly balanced on it's frame and the edge of the hole that you could rock it with one hand.
I think I could have tipped it over with one good shove.

I didn't want to go forward as the abrupt edge of the hole might do some damage, plus it didn't really look like the JEEP could move, but I gave her a try just to see. I put her in low and gave it a shot, ... just in case, but sitting on the frame with the front driver wheel against a vertical hole wall and the passenger rear wheel up in the air ...she wasn't going anywhere.

I quickly took a few cell phone shots and sent them out to family and friends so I could get my daily dose of chiding, then I walked up the slope to gather the tools you saw in the first picture.


I needed to slope the "cliff" edge to give that front wheel an easier trip up and I needed to get that one rear wheel down to where it could get some traction.

I used the shovel to slope the vertical wall of the mini-pond and to remove dirt from around the wedged frame.

Then, I shoveled sand under the floating tire on the rear passenger side.

There's the come-a-long jack in action. The cable from the jack is going to the JEEP. The yellow rope is tied to an oak tree in line with the JEEP.

In the picture above you can see the rope/winch setup. I cranked the come-a-long jack until the JEEP inched back just a little. This brought the floating rear wheel down enough to make contact with mound of sand I had piled under it.

When the sloping, mounding, and winching was over, I hopped in the JEEP, started her up and she fairly popped out of the hole!

I love a good wench ... ahem ... w-i-n-c-h.

I have to confess, while I was uncoiling rope at the beginning of the excavation process, a guy in a truck was passing on the county road. He saw me and the cock-eyed JEEP and rolled to a stop.

"Hey Buddy! You need a hand?"

I hesitated ...

Now, you have to understand that my high school pals, Kevin, Billy, Greer, and I had a truck philosophy that basically stated:

You weren't really stuck unless you had to call for help.

(No cell phones in those days, so this usually involved a hike)

No matter how mired your Scout, Truck, or Landrover was ... even if water and mud was coming in the doors ... if you could get it out without requiring outside help, you weren't really stuck.

We usually got mired late at night far from anywhere. The fear of our fathers finding out what we had done with their vehicles motivated us to dig, jack up, pile logs under tires, and pray, until whatever vehicle we had sank was freed of it's earthly bondage.

So when this guy offered to help ... well, it was a little like me asking for help wasn't it? I reverted right back to my 17 year old self ... what would Kevin, Greer, and Billy think?

"No thanks, I'm fine. I've got my rope and this come-a-long jack. I can get it, but I really appreciate the offer."

"You sure?"

" Yes, I can get it. Thanks a lot for stopping though."

In the end, I was able to get her out and it wasn't even that hard to do. So technically, according to the rules of engagement ... I was never really stuck.

Kind of funny that after two hours of driving around in a nearby favorite swamp and taking photographs, I come home and get momentarily mired in my own front yard ...

...Not stuck though.