Summer Things

School looms off on the horizon, but summer still rules for now ...

The fence lizards have been busy making more fence lizards.
They love ... well, each OTHER obviously, ... but what I was going to say is they love this leftover concrete block by the driveway.
It doesn't really go there, but they have claimed it as their basking and, um, ... recreational spot, so I leave it.

The resident gopher tortoises are all busy remodelling down below, but this burrow is a new one!
Sweet.
On a recent walk, Bear and I came across a GOODGOOOGLYWOOGLYGINORMOUS Gopher grazing along our trail.
I ran Bear back to the house and grabbed the camera, but by the time I got back, the GodzillaGopher had vanished into one of many burrows.

In the garden, the datil peppers are coming on strong and it's only the demise of our range top that is preventing vast amounts of datil pepper relish from being created.
That's a temporary thing though.
Meanwhile, the crazy productive datils keep pumping out the peppers.
I should have datil pepper seeds for sell again next month.

Back in early summer, when my cultivated blueberries were producing, I had competition from the birds for my tasty crop.
Well, the wild,native Shiny Blueberry bushes that grow along the trail where Bear and I walk are producing now, so I munch a few every time we go by.

Turn about is fair play, Cardinals!

Whole Lotta Moltin' Goin' On

The giant Malaysian prawn did it first.
Last week the kids walked in to an "empty" shrimp directly beside the "full' shrimp you see above.

"Wow! He shed!"
" He molted." (not me, another kid)
"Same thing."

"EEuuuuuu! He's eating it!"

Next, the mangrove seeds started. This is the seed of the black mangrove. They sprout on the tree, the better to get growing as soon as they drop to the mud, before an ebbing tide carries them beyond land.

And then, today, Zick (who was being very secretive) began showing signs that she too is in a moltin' mood.

Her eyes have clouded over with the thin film of condensation that occurs when her skin begins to loosen.
Essentially, her windows have fogged up.
That means it won't be long before she molts into her new duds.

I predict tonight is the night.

She was peeking out of her cave and taking a long drink a few minutes ago.
I believe she was contemplating a little swim after I turn the lights out and go home.

A girl needs moisture to soften her skin.

It comes off so much easier that way.

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.

Deer Decomposition

I was going to skip documenting this deer, and I am not doing a series like that last time, but Doug's comment about beetles made me go back and take a closer look.


I found beetles romantically involved among the bones, skin, and hair of the unfortunate deer.

This carrion beetle popped up for only a moment and then it was back to work in the sand beneath the carcass.

I was amazed at how fast this deer was reduced in volume. We had about two days of stink, one day with vultures, and then no real sign of it, unless you waded through the brush to get to it.

I suppose the vultures did the heavy lifting here since there were about 50 of them in the surrounding oaks when the deer was first spotted.

They left their calling card beneath those oaks.

Oh, it's a wild ride these atoms take, from soil to plants to deer to vulture to soil to plants ...

Icky video below: A ground level FLY -through (whacka, whacka) of the deer carcass.

All Hail

Quickie lunchtime post ...


I staked my vigorous tomato plants Saturday, which turned out to be pretty good timing as we had some strong windy storms Sunday.


I pulled the datils down from the "system" to protect them after I saw the radar bands on Accuweather.
The possibility of hail seemed strong and the datils are fragile and harder to replace than tomatoes.


The datils sheltered under the old hog hut while the tomatoes bravely endured the storm.
All plants came through it well, but we did get some nice rain and a short, but truly sweet little hail storm.



Below is a little bit of the hailstorm that rocked Laya's chicks' world.

34 Seconds of Spring

My blueberry bushes are full of swollen buds and the earliest varieties are even blooming. We are still colder than normal although yesterday was a day where I stripped off my shirt while working in the sun, but put it back on when I moved to the shade.

The consistently cold nights are really unusual so late in the season. I keep running my baby datil peppers out during the day and in during the night.


The huge hog plum that stands next to the hog pen (how did it know?) is a cloud of white blossoms right now. Next to it stands a black cherry tree that is leafing out presently.
Both trees grew from seeds I planted years ago and both are too close to the garden. They were supposed to be moved while still young, but I didn't get around to that ... oops.

I love them too much to cut them down now, so I just garden around them. Both trees are adorned with tiny beginning tentcaterpillar nests.

They do a little temporary damage, but the yellow-billed cuckoos like em.
So, I leave em.






Here's 34 seconds of bottled springtime.

These are hogplum blossoms.

You can hear the real hog in the background along with bee buzz and bird song.

It doesn't get much springier than that.

Barely Barren

Things are a little drab around here, what with a real winter and all.

Wussup wit dat?


The bare bushes on the right side of this photo are my resting blueberries. The stump is a little oak that got big and was shading too much of my garden/blueberry zone. He has kept us warm this winter and provided a robust smoky flavor to my BBQ ribs, chicken, etc.



The little green hut is the "mallard mansion" ... a leftover from our duck days. It's a garden tool shed right now.
The view of that green shed would be blocked by worn out chicken pens, but we cleaned those out recently. At the far end of the garden zone are some nursery beds, a fish tank, and the hog pens.


Laya and Son of Hoot roost in this East Palatka Holly every night ... can you tell?
I have to shovel that pile up every so often so it doesn't kill my pretty native holly.

The pond puddle has grown with our El Nino inspired rains this winter. This pic is a week old at least and it has crept up even more. The frogs should fill it with babies soon. Already the chorus frogs are singing nightly.

I listen and hope the tiger salamanders hear the frogs singing of the return of water.


The palm glade where I did my prescribed burn last winter has recovered nicely. It is one of the most pleasant places to be on the property.

Here is a section in the same zone that was not burned. I like a mix of thick and thin, so this area may just be left alone to do it's thing.

The pocket gophers have been busy in the back corner near the planted pines. The fresh mounds fascinate Bear. He sticks his nose in the still damp earth and sucks in all kinds of data about what lies beneath.

He keeps this to himself and I can only wonder.

The sky alternates between barren and quite productive this winter.

The Rainbow Connection

Late in the day, a week or so ago, I found the end of the rainbow. It was in my backyard about 10 feet from an old aquarium full of rainwater, minnows, and snails.

Curiously, there was no pot of gold present.

Stress Fractures

Thanks for all of the ID help yesterday on that hawk.

I am going with Coopers, which was my original opinion too.

If you came here thinking I broke a bone, I apologize.

(not apologizing for the lack of broken bones, just the deceptive title)

I've never broken a bone (Drink your American milk!) ... unless having part of your finger sheared off counts as a break ... seems more like cutting bone than breaking ... anyway, it's back on so no biggie.

The stress fractures on exhibit today are the kind found in shifting ice.

Now bear in mind, this is Florida ice, so you Yanks can stop laughing at it's thickness. You Floridians can gasp along in amazement with me.

Before I explain what's about to happen in the video, let me just say that the ice yesterday was record breaking in it's thicknomagnificentness!

My koi pond had ice over an inch thick!

Heck yeah, I know I mentioned this in the comments yesterday, but DANG!

This is Florida and FC has been here since 3:00 am one cold night in 1958. I've seen multiple Florida snow events since then, but never the consistently freezing temps to produce PACK ICE.

We are all in awe this winter.

Okay, back to the video.

You went ahead and watched it already didn't you?

Fess up.

That's okay. The tank in the video is an aquaculture tank I installed in the 90's to grow tilapia. It has a bottom drain in it that is activated by a simple knife valve outside of the tank. Last week, just on a whim, I opened the drain.

When the ice began to groan and complain, I thought, "VIDEO!"

I had to shorten it a bit, but if you have a minute or two to watch ice relieving it's stress, then sit back and enjoy.

Sweet 16

The temperature this morning was 16 F at my house. Some of my more inland coworkers reported 12 F on their fancy, shmancy car thermometer thingies.

The water pipes at school are frozen, hence we have no water coursing through the veins of the building.

Meanwhile, 700 kids are using the toilets which can't be flushed.

They are unable to wash their hands too.

I won't be doing any "high-fiving" today.

I have no idea how the lunchroom ladies are preparing lunch without water. That must be interesting.

Tonight's predicted low ... 17 F.

I have a soccer game NORTH of here at 6 pm.

How are things with you?

Wordless Not Turdless Wednesday

Mangels, Mangroves, Zonation, and Shrimp, Glorious Shrimp!

We're talking tides in Marine Science this week ... spring tides, neap tides, semidiurnal tides, diurnal tides, mixed tides ... what they are, why they are, differences, effects on marine life ... it's mind boggling.


At least I think their minds are boggled ... it's hard to tell on some of them.


Sometimes, when dealing with these simple truths about planet Earth, I take the opposite tack and ask them to imagine a world without whatever natural process or truth that we are dealing with at the time..


What if there were no tides on earth? How different would things be for life along the coast ... and for us?


... Or when we are discussing all the WEIRD properties of that chemical bad boy ... water ... what a rebel compound this water stuff is ... incorrigible actually.



It breaks so many rules ... like that crazy density thing ... being less dense as a solid than as a liquid. TOTALLY WEIRD.



I ask them ...

"What if ice sunk like it's supposed to do?"



We range far and wide over the global effects of billions of years of ice sinking, piling up on the seafloor, cooling the waters ever more, creeping outward ... and we usually wind up realizing that the simple fact that ice floats makes it possible for us to be here in our present form.



That and the fact that Peggy Flemming or Dorothy Hamill would never have had a sport to participate in is pretty sobering.





But, what of tides and mangels of mangroves manifesting multiarching roots with many multitudes of munchers mingling amongst them?

What of sessile stress?


The sessile dilemma ...
Where to live, where to live ?
If I attach too high, I'd better be tough enough to withstand hours outside of water during falling tides. Plus, I will be stuck there in plain view of interlopers like raccoons and other munchers.




If I attach deep, I won't have to worry about dessication, but the competition for space is tough and there will be constant threats from aquatic predators.

Just be thankful there are SO many proproots to choose from sessile citizens. The mangrove is very generous in this area.


Leaving sessile stress behind, we arrive in the mud where the value of the mangrove tree shines again in the form of detritus.

Every detrital mangrove leaf adds to the nutrients in the mud, which provides a feast for microorganisms that become fodder for shrimp and THAT, dear readers, is a very fine thing.

A VERY FINE THING.

SEE-Cada? Cicada Emergence

We'll let the pictures do the talking ... mostly ... I will be back at the end of the sequence.

WARNING!

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. IT TAKES HIGH TECH PHOTOGRAPHIC LAB EQUIPMENT TO ACCOMPLISH THIS SEQUENCE.

The photo below demonstrates the high tech devices required for cicada emergence photography.

That's right, you're gonna have to go out and get a stick and something to hold it up.

I know, I know ... who can afford photographic accessories like this? If you want the photos, you will find a way.

The good news is, the bowl of fruit is completely unnecessary for good cicada emergence photographs.

It's summer and the cicadas are emerging, mostly at dusk it seems, so if you keep your eyes open, you might notice one of these little bumbling nymphs. This one scuttled out from under the lawnmower when I went to roll it into the barn last night.

All I did to get these photos was:

1. Scoop up the cicada nymph.
2. Grab a stick on the way into the house.
3. Prop the stick up in a vase.
4. Put the cicada on the stick.
5. Eat 3 bowls of Emma's white bean chicken chili while the cicada did what it MUST do.
6. Pause in chili eating to take photos every once in a while.

See? I told you it was a difficult high tech photographic project.

Different Strokes

The morning after the heavy rains came dawned sunny and clear with background music provided by the spadefoot toads frolicing in the pond puddle. Spadefoots are kind of pretty for a toad. If we are only talking about their eyes, then we drop the qualifier "kind of", as their eyes are simply beautiful.


You could live your whole life and never see a spadefoot since they are pretty subterranean compared to other toads.
Water during the breeding season will bring them out though, and this pond puddle contained a couple of dozen at mid-morning.


There was a lot of amplexissy hugging going on.
IN BROAD DAYLIGHT!
What were they thinking?

Later that evening ... By the way, all of the remaining photos were taken at night with a flash ...



Where was I ... oh yes, later that evening ... the spadefoots were gone and the pond puddle supported lots of green tree frogs in and around the water. There was a lot of froggy telegraph chatter going on, but no sex.

Was I early?
Did the party start later in the evening?
Had I arrived late and missed it? No, no sign of eggs.

The sound was incredible and a few lucky friends got a phone picture message complete with audio recording as it happened.
I have a bit of noisy video via flashlight to share with you folks who visit PF, but lately Blooooger is not letting me upload video ... I keep getting an error message in gobbledygook code.

This one was singing like a crazy frog from the balcony seat in the willows.

On the walk back to PFHQ, I had to pass by the waterfolly we built.

It was being exclusively used by southern toads and they were trilling so loud that it almost hurt your ears.

There had to be about 2 dozen toads on the rocks and in the small pond. It was pretty crazy in there with lots of grabbing and wrestling going on.

The potted blue flag iris offered a resting place for toads needing to catch their breath before heading back into the fray.

The koi were getting an eyeful of frog frolicing and wisely chose to lay low for the evening.

It was quite the amphibiesque day ... and night. Interesting how each species chose it's place and time, although they all needed water to keep things going.

By the next day, the water in the pond puddle was gone, absorbed by the still thirsty, sandy clay at the pond bottom.

Ratsnake Recycling

On the same day that I encountered the babes of Gator Beach, I encountered this grey ratsnake on the dirt road through the woods.
When I first saw it at a distance, I thought I had a live snake to "mess" with and photograph. Accordingly, I jumped out of the JEEP with camera in hand only to find that this snake was dead.

Someone earlier than me had driven over him, I think accidentally, as the snake is only damaged near the rear end. He may have been scooting across the road and could not be avoided, or perhaps the driver was distracted and didn't see the sunning snake.

Whatever the case, one of my favorite snakes was dead, which is always a bummer to me, but he was being utilized by some very busy ants.

The video below shows that ant activity. Take a look at his eye, it's still clear, this snake had not been dead very long at all, but the ants were already working hard.
Possibly carrion beetles at work too since there is mounding around the snake and they tend to bury their finds.