An Ant Guard

This thing works!

 A while back, I posted about large ants clogging my hummingbird feeder and fouling the nectar. Some of you mentioned that I should get an ant guard.

I cleverly did not broadcast my ignorance of such a thing, just nodded knowingly.

Meanwhile, the ants continued to foul the feeder, the hummers quit using it, and I was washing ants out of it about every other day.

A few weeks ago, I was walking through the Gainesville Lowes, just browsing the bird feeder section and there it was!

... AND it wasn't expensive! 

I think it was only about $5.

This baby works like a charm.

The nectar stays clear and unfouled.

The hummers are knocking themselve out in a sugar high frenzy, and any ant that walks up the pole to the ant guard turns around and hauls abdomen back to where he came from.

I'm giving this product the FC pinniped of approval.

Owl Pellet Contents

I know you all were curious to see what was it I harfed up in the Owlapalooza post a few days ago.
My pal FC dried my pellet and picked through it to see what surprises it might hold.

After much picking, he found ...



... Beetle parts mostly ...



He could have just asked me.

Barking Tree Frog Tadpole Rescue

The fruit of the Frogapalooza evening down at the pond two weeks ago.

Unfortunately, the pond did not get the message about holding water until the tadpoles metamorphosed into tiny froglings.

In the last week, it has shrunk to two puddles of only a few inches in depth.
The water sits above a gooshy black organic ooze layer.

Warm water holds less oxygen than cool water and these shrinking puddles are loaded with thousands of tadpoles.

It's a recipe for a ca-tad-strophy.

Historically, this pipe channeled water from my gutters to the pond.

I took the gutters off last summer, but the pipe system I installed is still there.
This morning I hooked a hose into the system back at the house and sent water flowing down to the pond.

After the water was flowing, I scraped a shallow channel to direct water from the pipe to the tadpole puddles.

I also scraped a shallow canal to reconnect the two puddles.

As the cool, 72 degree well water entered the puddles, the tadpoles gravitated toward it and clumped up at the inlets.

It is raining in the area now, the drought is over, but the rain has skipped PFHQ for a week or so and the heat of summer was threatening to dry up these puddles. It took me about 15 minutes to scrape the "stream bed" and turn back the clock on these puddles.

Amphibians need every little hand up we can give them, not just here, but around the planet.

All I have to do is monitor the situation now and run a little water when the puddles shrink too much.

Most tadpoles metamorphose pretty quickly, so these guys just might make it.

I made a little video for you so you could see the whole operation in motion.

Datil Pepper Jerk Chicken

My Jerk Chicken Jones was Jonesing me earlier this week and I was home alone for a few days, so it seemed like the perfect time to experiment.

First, I checked my available ingredients ...

From the garden I was able to gather a handful of possible ingredients.

Please do not picture a Southern Living magazine type garden when I use that term here at PFHQ.

It's more like some hippie permaculture experiment crossed with bubbaquaponics.

It's messy out there.

But things grow ... sorta.

I checked the basic Jerk procedure found in one of my favorite MAN cookbooks, "How To Grill", by Steven Raichlen.

I had most of what I needed, but there would have to be a few substitutions.

This is life.

Above, from left to right:

Datil peppers

Cilantro

Greek oregano

Basil

Rosemary

Into the food processor went the fresh stuff listed previously, plus a long list of other ingredients in  Steven Raichlen's recipe.

The original recipe called for Habenero peppers of course, but this is the land of the datil and I have a blue million of them out in the pepper patch right now.

The chicken was "jooked"  with holes to allow marinade to enter, and then marinated in the fridge for the afternoon.

This is not slow, off the heat southern BBQ cooking.

This is grilling on hot coals.

The marinade is a green goo loaded with all the flavors of those fresh herbs plus the off the shelf seasonings from the kitchen pantry.

I savoried up the smoke by tossing some water soaked Allspice berries and leftover fresh herb stems on the hot coals.

Bless this chicken, may he rest in pieces.

It's important to let a piece of meat, hot off the grill, rest a bit before you dig into it.

An easily removable wing says, "I'm ready!"

I'm glad he was ready, because I know I was.

Look Ma!

No French fries, no baked potato loaded with butter and sour cream, no macaroni and cheese ... no high fat and high calorie starchy stuff.

Green carbs and lean protein

(You can skip the following rant by scrolling down to the part where I talk about how the Datil Jerk Chicken actually tasted).

DANGER RANTING ZONE!

Did you see the report a week or so ago about how the USA is in the top ten list of fattest countries on the planet?

And, the south is the fattest part of the 9th fattest country on the planet?

Just ballparking the figures here, but about 30% of southerners are obese... not a few pounds overweight, but obese.

We do love our fried foods down here.

And sweet tea (which is essentially a flat soda as far as sugar goes)

Toss in a restaurant industry that seems hellbent on creating the cheapest, unhealthiest kitchen creations possible, mix in our bacon greased, pan fried southern traditions,  wash it all down with sweet tea and soda ... and you've got the perfect recipe for a culture of obesity,diabetes, and heart disease.

Oh, and don't forget to be almost completely sedentary ... why, that's the icing on the cake.

(Cake, did someone mention cake?)

Man, I love cake... just not every night.

Statistics like those in the Fat State List sadden me, because I work with kids and I see the situation getting worse, not better.

It's frustrating ... which, I guess, is why I interrupted this food post with a mini-rant.

My apologies.

Let us get back to the healthy and inexpensive meal above ...

END RANT ZONE

RESUME NORMAL EATING HABITS

So, how was the Datil Jerk Chicken?

Delicious!

How would I improve it?

Up the datils!

 I cautiously used 4 or 5. I think I would up it to about ten for a fiery hot JERK.

(... or maybe, just use them whole without seeding them)

I would also plan ahead so it could marinate longer and allow the Jerk marinade to infiltrate the interior more thoroughly.

Otherwise, I wouldn't change a thing.

Aerial Refueling In A Combat Zone

Note: This post was extracted from HBDODM-1, "Hummer Refueling During Combat".

 Translated by FC.

(Yes, I speak Squeak.)

 Upon approach to fueling station, monitor the immediate area for potential threats.

"Keep your beak on a swivel."

 If the area is secure, pilots may choose the perch method of refueling.

Perform a quick security sweep.

If the area is clear, proceed with refueling.

Commence refueling.

Depart immediately upon completion of fueling.

A short HBDOD training film follows.

FC would like to thank the Humming Bird Department Of Defense for allowing the use of this material,

or as we say in Squeak ...

"SqueakitychitbuzzsqueakzzchitSqueakitychitchitbuzzchitsqueakitybuzz"

 

Owlapalooza Part One

The barred owls who live here at PFHQ are so accustomed to our comings and goings, that for the most part, they seem to ignore us.

We are too big to eat, too slow and earthbound to be a threat, and too diurnal to be worth a second 180 degree glance.

Huge oaks crowd up against our house and this brings the owls in, often right at our doorstep.

THAT is the subject of Owlapalooza Part Two, by the way.

They swoop by the living room windows every evening before sundown ... ( "There goes the owl"), and one is calling even now as I type this sentence at 1930 hours.

The subject of this post is a young barred owl who really likes hanging out at the tiny watering hole I installed in the palm forest a few years ago.

This owl is small in stature and fluffy to a fault ... that is why I refer to it as a young owl. Barred owls are BIG birds and this one just seems smaller than normal,.

Plus, it is that time of year for juvenile delinqowls to be hooting and cutting up.

I knew, (as in had a strong hunch), that this owl would be sitting on a low branch near the mini-pond and sure enough, he did not let me down.

In the heat of the day, the shade of the palms and the tall oaks seems to fit the bill for an owl in need of a cool spot.

Plus, you never know when a delicious palmetto bug (aka hideously fat roach) will come crawling out from a fallen sabal palm frond.

Or maybe the leopard frogs that use the mini-pond will forget to duck.

While I was watching the owl, but with camera focused elsewhere, ( you see, there was this armadillo ... ), the owl harfed up this owl pellet.

As soon as it hit the ground, I was on it.

I scooped it up in a bit of pond frond and carried it back to the house to dry out.

I haven't picked through it yet, but there are a bunch of insect parts in there and the more obvious ones look like roach.

After it dries a little more, I will pick it apart and post an update.

I know, I know ... eeeeeuuuuuu.

Man up, you weenies!

Here's a little video of the whole encounter ...

... minus most of the armadillo of course.

Sippin' Orange Juice: VIDEO UPDATE



UPDATE:  OOPS, I FORGOT TO ADD THIS VIDEO CLIP YESTERDAY.

Orange.




Sipping Orange.




Orange sur l'orange.



Sipper: A Gulf Fritllary Butterfly.
Sippee: An Orange Butterflyweed.

Datil Harvest Begins, Blueberry Harvest Winds Down, Stoichiometry Heats Up

Emma picked the first blueberries from the backyard patch in very late April and we are still picking.

Based on what is still hanging from the tired branches, I think this 2011 berry harvest will end right around the end of July.

Let me tell you, I have eaten a blue million of them and I prefer them fresh while I pick or almost as fresh from the bowl of just picked berries.

Still, they do taste good in other ways and a blueberry scone is one of my favorite "other ways".

The dough picture above is actually a cinnamon-blueberry scone, since we simply added our berries to a favorite cinnamon scone recipe.

It was almost as good as the ones at Merciers Orchard in Blue Ridge, GA.

Above, you see the finished product, hot out of the oven, and still on the parchment paper.

Listen up ... parchment paper ROCKS!

Who knew you could slap dough on to paper, toss it in a hot oven and not burn down the house?

Well, okay ... Ray Bradbury knew this a long time ago, but he's a genius.

Currently, a trip to the garden brings back a mixed bowl of sweet and heat.

Those are datil peppers of course.

They are next years seed crop and this year's chowder, pilau, kung pao, black beans, chili, and anything else that needs improving with heat and unique flavor.

Bear is not much for spicy food, but he does love a good scone. Here he is begging for a nugget of sconey goodness.

He had his annual check up this week and the vet could not get over what a magnificent, muscular, healthy, handsome, happy specimen he was.

I had to agree of course.

Scones and coffee, blogging when I should be studying, missing posts due to work ... what is the world coming to?

This is the "Summer of Chemistry" for me.

At my new school, I am the entire high school science department (and a third of the middle school).

My course load is:

1. Eighth grade comprehensive science
2. High school biology (2 classes of this)
3. High school environmental science     
4. High school marine science honors     
5. High school chemistry                           

Yes, you counted correctly ... 5 preps.

5 science preps.

I am used to multiple preps (3)coming from a small school, but this school is really small and everybody has multiple preps to the extreme.

Of those preps, chemistry is the totally new one and the most challenging.

Of course there is a teacher test($200!) to take, since it doesn't fall under my other 3 certifications.

I use a lot of chemistry foundational information in my other courses, but the last time I did any stoichiometry problems was ... ohhhh, let's see ... 1977-78.

So, no novel at bedtime for me this summer ... at least not until I pass this test.

I fall asleep with one of many chemistry books on my chest most nights.

I'm even skipping a family trip so I can immerse myself entirely in chemistry equation work while everyone is gone.

So bring on the scones and coffee and pass me my scientific calculator with more buttons and functions than an Apollo era computer.

If you are thinking, "FC, why make this change and put yourself through all this.", just be patient.

There is a method to my madness and in a future post I will share it.

Tumbling Toad Tangle

That was filmed as I left the pond Sunday night and by then, my light was fading even as I filmed.
They were an enthusiastic little KNOT.

Florida Frog Fandango UPDATED (that means corrected.. ahem)

I don't usually start off or end with "bad" photos here at Pure Florida.

Actually, I try to keep them out of the middle too, but this post includes two technically bad shots that are simply to give some idea of the frognacious night we had here at PFHQ recently.

So, photo number one below is dark, far from the subjects, fuzzy,and there are rain drops on my lens,  but it does hint at the Anuramazing scene down at the "pond" Sunday night.

Photo number 5, later in this post, has the same flaws, but serves the same purpose.

If you click and enlarge it, you can have some fun seeking out frogs on the shore, in the water, and in the willows.

Look for white eyes ...

...sometimes only one white eye ...

... frogs wink.

 We're here! We're here!

 I'm calling these green tree frogs, even though the spots threw me at first, since most of the green tree frogs on my window panes at night are uniformly green. The UF guide mentioned golden spots on the back though, and my audio sounds like their green frog audio online ... so, that's my story and I am sticking to it like a tree frog on a window.

... Until convinced otherwise ....

Which happened almost immediately of course. This just validates the teacher proverb about, "Your first guess is probably the correct one."
Before publishing I went back and forth between barking and green treefrog for the ID. These frogs looked a lot stouter than my svelte greens on the window screens, but they were all puffed up and the singing sounded mostly like greens to my ears and barkers can be green while greens can be spotted.

So I went with an unconfident green diagnosis, knowing that Swampy and others would come to my rescue just like Doug does when I post a bug that I have not identified correctly.

Mistakes like this come from creating posts on your lunch hour ... 

(I writing interim biology assessments for the county this week).

... and hitting PUBLISH POST without too much fact checking.

Sorry about that, Chief.

 I walked down to the pond in total darkness and in a light rain with my spotlight turned off.

 The sound was all encompassing, you could hear it so well inside the house a hundred feet upslope that my wife thought the windows in the bedroom were open.

They were not.

Checkout the sound wave distortion in the pond surface surrounding Mr. Bubblethroat in the picture above.

The video below is mostly an audio experience, so here are a few tips.

1. First, turn the volume all the way up on your computer ... as if you were going to listen to Sweet Home Alabama.
2. Expect nothing but darkness and beautiful frog song for the first bit of the video. I started filming without light to capture their uninterrupted song as I walked through the woods. Sometimes they stop or slow down when you turn on a light and I wanted to record them as they were.
3. There are moments when the camera struggles (or was it me) to focus in the dim light of my dying spotlight, so hang in there and don't give up during those moments.

Mangroves + Snapper = Mangrove Snapper

Black mangroves (foreground bushes with flowers) on the Gulf side of Snake Key, Florida.

The photo above shows the Gulf side shoreline a Snake Key. The tide is up and the plants are sharing information about the topographic slope in this area.

• The grasses at the seaward edge are Spartina and they love to have their feet and whole body wet at high tide.
• The black mangroves love wet feet, but are not in to deep wading the way the grasses are.
• The sabal palm forest that begins behind the mangrove mangel tells us the island slopes up enough to prevent constant salt water baths at that point. Sabals handle a wide variety of habitats from dry sand dune to freshwater swamps here in Florida, and they are very tolerant of salt spray. 

Lutjanus griseus

The mangrove snapper above is one of the finest fruits of the mangrove tree. They are extremely wary of the hook and can drive you mad if you ever encounter a school of them, in clear water, stacked like cordwood, and  ... ignoring every delicious bait you might cast at them.

When I was the resident Ranger at Fort Matanzas National Monument, they did just that every night under the NPS boat dock.
Crazy fish!

I do not carry a grudge though, and when this one fell for my bait a few weeks ago, I took a quick shot and released him.

Isn't he beautiful? That is one filled out, healthy fish.

May he continue to fill out and then, perhaps on another day, honor me one more time.

No telling how that story might end ... but it might involve cornmeal ...

... and datil pepper relish.

Storm At Cedar Key

I spent yesterday afternoon cleaning out the wet lab in my new school digs. My primary lab/classroom is a sweet, modern room in the main building, but the "wet lab" is a portable building built specifically to be a science lab about 15 years ago. Back then, the county installed about 4 or 5 of these special portables, one at each middle and high school, and I actually taught in one for about half my career, so it is a familiar layout.

 I arrived at the school around 1:00 pm under hazy, dull skies ... nothing remarkable, just kind of blah and overcast.

Once inside the lab, I started opening cabinets and salvaging the good, while tossing the bad.

"Stuff" accumulates in labs and store rooms over the years and this one is no exception.

I got a lot done, but there is much more to do.

I toiled mostly inside, except for trips to the large garbage cans just outside from time to time with the residue left by the previous teacher who happens to be a friend of mine and, long ago, my mentor. Any classroom with lots of storage space like this lab, will collect everything from old files, student projects, mementos of past classes, and things that really qualify as junk.

The junk is often saved with the best of motives, "this may come in handy some day", and then other stuff gets stored on top, and then more things.

In an era of drastic education cuts, we teachers become packrats of a sort.

It winds up being something like an archaelogical dig.

The whole time I toiled, I could hear the chatter of the young ospreys who call the schoolyard lightpost home.

Not bad background music, not bad at all.

Somewhere around 6:00 PM, I ran out of large garbage bags and my rumbling stomach said it was time to go home.

When I stepped outside, the sky had changed dramatically.

The wind was whipping and a dark shelf of roiling clouds was moving in from the south.

The few boats that were still out were racing for the safety of the tiny harbor at Cedar Key.

If you are a regular reader, you have seen the "Honeymoon Hotel" with a golden sunset behind it as my banner picture, not so long ago.

On this day, some pretty ominous clouds took over the backdrop duty.

I'm thinking that on days like this one, that little sailboat feels even smaller than it actually is.

It stormed and rained all the way home and today has been grey with off and on light rain.

Good stuff.

The video below has a lot of wind noise, but, hey ... it was windy.

It's Back!

Gopher Mowpher? No Sir!

Mrs. FC was mowing around the house and garden area last week, when she stopped suddenly and called me over.

I was cutting brush along a fence line with my new, uber sweet kukri machete when I heard the mower stop and her call to "Come Quick!"

My first thought was, "Oh, she must have another carnivorous katydid up her pants ... what are the odds of two in a week?"

(WHAT? ... I didn't tell you about the carnivorous katydid?  One morning her truck would not start, so we had the hood up and jumper cables connecting it to my JEEP. While we leaned on the truck and peered at the engine the way people do in that situation, she began to hop around clutching the leg of her nursing scrubs, while shouting, "Take my pants off! Take my pants off!"

It was pretty funny (and unexpected) so I guess I must have been standing there in shocked amazement, because she took matters in to her own hands and flipped her waistband down long just enough for a big brown carnivorous katydid to hop out.

This was one of those times when it's especially good that we live way out in the country without neighbors. 

 Her truck never started by the way, and she headed off to work in my JEEP with a pretty unusual start to her day.)

On this day, it was not another katydid attack, but rather a young gopher tortoise who happened to be directly in the path of the mower when she spotted it.

WHEW! 

That was close.

Good job, Mrs. FC.

This guy has no concept of how lucky he is.

First he lives here, where we love his company and even manage parts of the property just for his benefit.

Second, we don't mow very often so the chances of a bad blade encounter are small to start with. In fact, due to the horrible drought which broke last week (after I wrote about it), we have mowed exactly two times this year.

Third, Mrs. FC happened to be paying close attention as she mowed.

This little guy might be last year's tiny yellow gopher I posted about at the time.

He's too big and past that hatchling yellow stage to be the motorcycle rescued gopher from a month or so ago.

Because it was nearby, I placed him in the runway to G-5's (Gopher #5) burrow, expecting him to scramble into the safety of the cool darkness.

He did not.

So I nudged him gently.

Unfortunately, due to the extreme slope of G-5's burrow entrance, when I nudged him he tumbled out of sight into the dark tunnel.

ARRRRGHHHHH!

What if he was in there on his back?

Sometimes they can right themselves, but sometimes they can not and it is a slow death if they can not get back upright.

I peered into the darkness, but could not see him.

DANG IT!

I dashed back into the house, grabbed the bazillion candlepower boat spotlight and returned.

At the top of the burrow, I put myself in a prone position so I was leaning upside down over the burrow entrance.

When the very powerful spotlight fired up, there was the little gopher, right side up crawling towards me.

I think I may name this one LUCKY if he decides to stick around PFHQ.



Schoolyard Ospreys

My new school comes complete with nesting Ospreys.

This light pole has hosted ospreys for a very long time ... I know they were using it back in the '90's when I taught summer marine science camps out at Cedar Key. The pole sits in an open "field" at the tiny school. Just beyond the light pole is a broad quiet salt marsh with lots of fish to feed young ospreys.

Checking you out.

Bright eyes

Ehh? What's that?

Pre-flight stretch.