Skink eggs!

A few years ago I posted about a northern prairie skink the kids found on the gravel beach near the pond. We have since discovered that the skinks have an elaborate series of tunnels under the rocks in a fire pit on the beach. That fire pit has not been used for over a year, and if we ever feel like having a bonfire I think we'll build a new fire pit. I do not want to inadvertently roast some of the few lizards that inhabit this area.

A few weeks ago, Joe and I were turning the rocks, looking for skinks. We saw one or two adults, but we also saw what is in the photo- eggs! There are nests under at least two rocks, with about eighteen eggs total. I have been checking on them occasionally, not wanting to disturb the eggs or adults too much. I don't know how long they take to hatch, but I hope to see the old fire pit crawling with little skinks soon.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Whether snow, sleet, hail, or rain...

Sally will go to the pond. And though this looks like a picture I would have taken on my iPhone, it was actually taken on my current working digital camera. What this photo does not show, and what I could not find a quick, easy fix for, is that at the time there was a very dramatic sky. Those little bolts you may see above the pond are blobs of sleet falling. Oh Kodak Easyshare Z740, you could have done so much better! You overexposed!

Anyway, the sky was dramatic as I was driving home, and I could tell there was some sort of precipitation falling nearby, although the sun was shining all the time. And since Vinny and Nina are done with sports for now, I was able to get home before the sun set. Two weeks from now when Standard Time kicks in, I will be lucky to see my home in daylight. The pond will freeze over, and Sally will just have to dream for a few months.

So the question now is...which do I want more? New digital camera, or iPad?

Annual exuberant pond opening post!

Today was the day. The pond is 99% ice free, and of course Sally had to celebrate. We humans will wait a while, at least until the water temperature is within 30 degrees of body temperature.

Spring is unfolding in the wondrous way it always does. Birds are returning, woodcock are doing their spectacular display, ruffed grouse are drumming, robins are singing, and in the last couple of days, frogs have started singing. It's a wonderful time here.

Open water

I apologize for not posting more frequently in this, the most exciting of seasons. It's all happening so fast this year I can barely step back and process it all. It seems like a dream: warm temperatures came and snow started disappearing in mid March, and I sat there waiting for things to return to normal, for a blizzard or deep freeze or something. It never happened, and here I sit in a comfortably warm house that will not need supplemental heat tonight. In early April!

The ice went out on all the lakes in the area this week. According to records kept by my grandpa at the lake home now owned by my uncle, this year was the second earliest the ice disappeared from that lake. The records probably go back over 30 years. Today we spent a nice Easter at the lake, watching various ducks, grebes, geese, and herons on the water.

Of course with my job monitoring fish populations, ice out meant work. I had meant to take Thursday and Friday off and spend some time with the kids while they had some time off school for spring break. Instead I was one of the first people out on a boat on a couple of lakes, setting nets and checking them for fish. I can't complain, how many jobs are there where you get paid to go out in a boat, but suddenly I'm feeling the need for some time off!

The warming and thawing has finally resolved a situation we had here with the pond over the last two weeks. The pond was flooded from melt water that had nowhere to go because an outflow culvert under our driveway was blocked with ice. Finally some time last night the water broke through the ice and I can just imagine the powerful rush as the water flowed through and lowered the level of the pond by about a foot. Thank goodness there was no damage to the driveway.

Tonight the frogs are singing, and I can even keep my window open a bit to hear them. Maybe I will hear the northern saw whet owl I heard last night as well.

the day Sally dreams of all winter

The day the pond is free of ice, and Mom beckons, when she comes home from work, with the magic word: POND! It's enough to send Sally into a frenzy.

I also had to supervise some lawn tractor driving. Starflower and Calvin are getting pretty good at it. I have promised Mr. Attitude that I will give him lessons. When I'm ready.

spring sightings

The pond is almost ice free. I would say totally but it's supposed to get pretty cold tonight so more ice will form. And the culvert under the driveway is still plugged by ice or something else. No more water has entered the equation, and there is not significant rain in the forecast, so I'm just hoping it thaws soon.

Today I finally spotted a pair of sandhill cranes flying, while I was commuting home. Kestrels have arrived, and northern harriers once again amaze me with their beautiful, effortless flight. And I saw the first turkey vulture soaring above the town of Sandstone today. Turkey vultures make me think of Lynne. Not that she's a "vulture" in the sense of the popular definition, far from it, she is a beautiful, fun, caring person who happens to have a personal affinity for the oft maligned turkey vulture. I like them too.

My lawn tractor arrived yesterday. I took it out for a spin, and I admit John Deeres are pretty nice. Calvin and Starflower have been taking turns driving it around the yard. I hope the enthusiasm continues once I assign them various tracts of land to keep mowed this summer!

At work, I have been practicing the Zen of fish net mending. It is really kind of fun once you learn how to do it right. Fun, that is, unless one is subjected to a radio station blaring '80s rock music, or political discussions between my coworkers. I forgot to bring my iPod today. I will definitely remember tomorrow.

Our blessedly warm March is turning colder for a few days. That will give me an excuse to not go running. I have not been feeling the running bug lately. Same with music. On one level it irritates me that I can't seem to rise beyond that, but on another level maybe I need to take it easy and approach it again in a few days. Whatever. I wish I, like the kids, had a week's spring break to look forward to after tomorrow. I'll take a couple days off if work doesn't heat up. If it's just net mending, it can wait.

dude, where's my culvert?

I think I can say unequivocally that ice skating season is over. Actually this year we did not get out skating once. The ice formed, then enough snow fell before the ice was thick enough to support its weight so there was slush. Then slush froze into hard bumps that even the best Zamboni would not be able to resurface.

The ice has been retreating at a pace unusual for March. The weather lately has been a blessing for a winter weary soul (and a blessing for our heating bill, which could use a break). Yesterday and today above 60 degrees = unbelievable (but very likable). I think after the last few years we deserve a March like this.

This fast meltdown and runoff has posed a bit of a problem though, and it's not just the mud in the driveway, which may go away sooner than normal if this continues. The problem is, the pond is at record high water levels. That means that at some point, water is not flowing out of the pond.

This is a view directly below the pond outflow culvert. So water is flowing through that one fine. But there is another culvert, underneath our driveway. There is lots of water above the driveway, but little below. A-ha.

I decided to investigate this matter today instead of going for a run. The pond outflow runs north through the outflow culvert and the driveway culvert. This is an important fact: The driveway shades the outflow below it so that thawing happens more slowly. I entered the ditch north of the driveway, and at first could not even see any sign of a culvert. Then, as I examined more closely, I saw, just above the surface of an ice pack, a curved form that looked like the top of a culvert. I chipped out some ice with a heavy spud bar (ice chisel) and it did indeed appear to be the culvert I was looking for.

I continued to chip away at the ice, thinking perhaps I could break through. I could have broken through, with unlimited strength. The ice was still sturdy and unrelenting, and finally I gave up with the idea that I had speeded the process. Just a little.

I am not too concerned at this point. Most of the snow has melted, and the pond is as high as it is going to get. Unless, of course, we get a couple inches of rain in one night. Then maybe we would be faced with a driveway washed away, unable to drive anywhere, huge excavating bill to get things back to normal. Nope. Don't even want to go there.

Hopefully another day or two of this wonderful weather will resolve the problem.

pond evening

This September has been incredible, weatherwise. Tonight was just another golden evening.

This girl was happy to finally have some pond time. Week nights are just too hectic.

I have more words somewhere. But I also have a cold and the urge to just crawl under flannel sheets after the sun goes down. The words will be there soon, I promise.

of trout, and the aquatic mammals that eat them

I was in the midst of another adventurous day at work. Lately, due to a coworker's taking family leave, I have been out more than in, sampling one stream after another with electricity. And you know what, I'm enjoying it, more than I have enjoyed any other work I've done (at work that is) since I can remember. In the last couple of weeks I have seen some nice waters, gotten to know a lot more of the local plants, and even seen a few brook trout.

I heard my cell phone signal a new voice mail. 99 percent of the time my cell phone messages are anything but urgent, but even though I was not in a strong signal area I decided to check it.

"Mom! There's a family of otters in the pond!"

My battery was going low, or I would have called back just to make sure I heard right. Today indeed a family of four otters had taken over the pond and were frolicking wildly! I wish I could have been there to see them. New wildlife sighting at Sand Creek!

Of course, this probably explains why last Friday, when we finally got around to sampling the stretch of Sand Creek that flows through my land, there were no trout. Otters eat fish, and they can take down the population of a brook trout stream easily.

But it does not explain why today, in a shallow, alder choked stretch of stream about five miles south of here, we sampled thirteen small brook trout in about a 500 foot length of stream. By small I mean, you would not even think of taking them home for dinner, but they were there! We were totally not expecting to see them. I'm sure otters lurk there now and then, and yet brook trout survive against incredible odds.

Nature is wonderfully balanced that way.

pond dog

"Please take me to the pond? Oh will you please? I love the pond! Oh please?"

That is how I have been greeted the last few afternoons. Sally is relentless. So I even caved in today, when it was about 40 degrees and windy. That's how dogs are.

the long awaited day

With a string of sunny days with temperatures in the 50's, the ice is finally losing its grip on lakes. I've been watching the ice on the pond darken and pull away from shore further each day. Yesterday there was finally enough open water for a very excited Labrador to do what she enjoys best.

Sally was wondering why Mr. Attitude and I were standing on shore. Cold? What cold?

She was shivering just a bit as she did the shakeoff.

I came across something unusual a few feet from the water:

These remains were once a fairly good sized black crappie. From time to time a few odd bluegills have ended up in the pond, never to be seen again. I vaguely recall helping a few very small crappies find their way to this body of water at least two years ago, but I never saw any sign of them. Until now. I'm guessing this one succumbed to low oxygen levels, and floated up on shore when the ice receded. Some lucky critter made a meal of it.

It's another beautiful day here. I hope you enjoy your day!

first skating day on new ice

It had been a few days since the pond completely froze over, and we had some nights with temperatures in the low teens. I checked the ice Saturday morning, walking cautiously along the edge. From the bubbles I could see in the clear ice, it looked to be at least four inches thick. Perfect. Smooth surface, no heavy snowfall to cause water seepage. Skating before Thanksgiving. It may be the earliest skating since I've kept record here.

Sally likes the pond better in liquid form, but she doesn't mind running around on the ice, shredding wood for me to sweep up later.

Who is this, and what maneuver is she trying to attempt, or trying to recover gracefully from?

I get triple exercise points today; I ran over three miles, then skated for an hour, then acted as catcher for Calvin's late afternoon pitching practice. Zero housekeeping points though; something's gotta give. :)

Getting ready for w...wi...win...oh, I can't say it yet

Today was Turtle Freedom Day. The six painted turtles, which the kids had caught on various occasions and which we had kept in the aquarium in the cabin all summer, needed to prepare for overwintering in the pond. We found last year it's not good for a turtle's shell if it is kept in an aquarium over winter.

The turtles seemed unfazed by the cool water of the pond; they all scrambled happily into the water to be wild turtles once again. That is, until they are caught next summer on some turtle catching expedition.

Of course, any time there is a walk to the pond, there is Sally. And a few recollections of the summer's good days at the pond. Note the water level; it's as high as it gets.

I got a bit of work done in the garden, including mulching my blueberry plants, above, with a generous helping of pine needles from the white pine near the bed. I have never done that before, but it's supposed to be good. I also brought some newly unearthed rocks and arranged them to start the edge of what may be my lingonberry bed next year.

I have been digging in some of my garden beds, trying to remove the thick layer of weeds before winter. I have six beds done; I don't think I will get to all 21 by freeze up. But anything I do is more than I did last year.

I kept pausing to look at the tamaracks behind the house. Their golden needles were especially beautiful against the sapphire blue sky. But weather is an ever changing thing here in Minnesota, and tomorrow promises to be cloudy, rainy, gloomy, even perhaps snowy?

NO!!!!! I'm not ready for this!!!!!

first pond day

I haven't checked the Sand Creek archives, but I think June 1st may be the latest ever First Pond Day for our family. I know there have been first swims as early as April, with ice still visible.

It was just me and Sally, Mr. Attitude, and Starflower (by the way, starflowers are not blooming yet, although they are in Vermont.) The Hermit is away on business, and Calvin should be coming home from a friend's house any minute now. Starflower and I managed to carry the kayak about 200 yards from its winter parking place to the pond. Starflower is one strong girl; I had to stop and rest several times, but she was always ready to keep going!

We kayaked and swam for about half an hour; it would have been longer, had it not been for the mosquitoes. I'm hoping this first hatch will die off soon. It didn't help that we had all kinds of standing water here and there in the woods all spring. The pond water was not yet out of the preferred temperature range for brook trout, meaning, it was COLD! I went in for one quick dip, and that was enough for me.

Not that I spent my whole day in such leisure. By 9 AM I was hauling loads of black dirt from the (former) horse pasture to the gardens, by hand in the garden cart, a distance of about 150 yards over uneven terrain. The garden beds had to be filled, and I wanted to get it done before the sun got too high. I hauled six loads from the pasture, two more than my goal of four. Then I transported three loads from a pile that The Hermit had dumped last fall near the garden. All of the garden beds that needed supplemental dirt got it. I figure each cart load was about three bags of topsoil that you'd buy at the big box garden center, for about $3 apiece. So each cart load was worth $9, x9= $81 plus gas money to drive there and back (40 miles each way). Not to mention the gym membership I don't have to buy because I got a great workout in the process! And, it's really nice dirt. Complete with several earthworms in every shovelful.

Then, mind you, I cleaned and Shop Vac'd the whole house. Well, three tiny rooms, but there was enough hair in the bag to make a new dog or cat.

So I earned the pond dip, and this tall icy drink I am now sipping.

today's at-home birding

I am once again playing with the idea of opening my cabin as a birds 'n bloggers bed 'n breakfast once we're moved into the new house. Because what city dwelling birder wouldn't relish waking up to the sounds of sandhill cranes, snipe, woodcock, ruffed grouse, spring peepers, ravens, purple finches, etc. AND, to walk out before breakfast, hearing a woodpecker tapping in the woods, and having it turn out to be a female black backed woodpecker! I should have had my camera, I was within twenty feet of her.

I was feeling a bit under the weather this morning with a cold bug, which was no doubt exacerbated by my going out on a lake Friday and Saturday in less than tolerable weather conditions to sample The Muskellunge. My butt hurts from being bounced over waves and hitting the steel platform bow of the boat, my arms hurt from bracing myself so my butt would not hit the bow of the boat so hard. I am now seriously considering a career change, possibly to a bed and breakfast keeper or market farmer, because I honestly cannot see myself doing this same job ten years from now. Not to mention, I just cannot tolerate working with men who make jokes about incidentally killing a horned grebe in a net, or nearly killing a common loon in a net. All to "assess the population" of a species that is only in that particular lake through stocking, and probably should not be there to begin with. Next time I pull a 50 inch muskie out of a net, I just may drop it on its head. Intentionally. And then step on its head. But no, answering violence with violence never solves anything.

Of course, these are my personal opinions and do not reflect the official opinion of the agency I work for. :)

So after a long overdue recycling run with The Hermit, long overdue because we were waiting for our driveway to dry out a little, we took a noontime nap, and then I tried to straighten out the bedroom a little. It was a huge effort to do anything. It was warm (if you call 55 warm, I'll take it) and sunny, and CALM (the wind has picked up as I type this, of course), so I decided to take Sally out for a little frolic in the pond.

When we arrived on the path over the outlet culvert, a large brown bird suddenly flew up from the vegetation in front of the culvert. My first bittern of the year! It settled just across the pond, and tried hard to camouflage itself. I knew better.

Ha ha, you can't see me! I'll just keep my bill in the air, and I'll look like a cattail...

Finally, when it thought the coast was clear and we weren't much of a threat, it flew.

As usual, Sally enjoyed her pond frolic.

January thaw

It got up to 42 today, according to my car's thermometer. This won't last, as we are supposed to get back to 20 below tomorrow night. That's a difference of 60 degrees!

At least, the quick thaw and freeze will mean an amazing surface for my skating pond. Better than if I had the time to manage it myself.

random happenings

I must be suffering from Midwinter Blog Writing Freeze. I think the lack of sunlight affects my motivation and ability to compose a thoughtful, coherent post. But the sun is shining, and the south facing office is full of natural light, so I better seize the moment.

On Saturday I finally got the snow cleared off the pond for skating. Or, I should say, I removed about a two inch crust that was all that was left of the twenty inches of snow that had covered the pond since the weekend after Christmas. What happened to the rest of the snow?

When a heavy snowfall covers a layer of ice (assuming the ice is thick enough to support it), often the weight of the snow will push the ice down, forcing water up around the edges and through any cracks that may be in the ice. The thick blanket of snow insulates the water and keeps it from freezing solid. Dig or step down in the snow, and you will encounter a layer of slush between the snow and the ice. On large lakes where people are normally driving their vehicles on the ice this time of year to go ice fishing, the slushy conditions create a sometimes invisible safety hazard. On a small skating pond, it mostly creates a mess and dashes hopes for skating for the year.

However, it got cold enough, and the water seeped up enough to freeze solid beneath a snowy crust. It took a bit of physical force with the shovel sometimes to push through the crust, but I got the pond cleared. The ice is far from ideal for skating, but Mr. Attitude and I went out and made the most of it. It was Mr. Attitude's first time on skates, and he impressed me with his self confidence and ability to stay standing as he made skating-like motions.

I was already feeling the shoveling part that night when I could barely lift my arms. Ouch.

Our chickens (about a half dozen now) have been roosting outside the last couple of nights, even though this morning it was 18 below zero! What's up with that? Are the geese not sharing the space? Yesterday morning as I was racing to drive Calvin out to the bus, which was early, I nearly ran over a Rhode Island Red.

This morning on the way to work, I saw something large fly across the road ahead of me. It didn't have the speed of a goshawk; even though I was inside the car and could not hear anything outside, the flight struck me as being "silent", if that makes any sense. I immediately thought "owl". Since I was on a low traffic gravel road, and no one was behind me, I was able to stop and locate where the bird had landed in an aspen tree about 50 yards into the woods off the road. Barred owl! I managed to get a good look with the binoculars and tried to guide Mr. Attitude so he could see it too. I don't know if he ever found it, but I was happy that he seemed as excited as I was.

enough

Remember this?



With our recent rains, the pond is full once more. It's hard to compare the photos because they were taken from slightly different vantage points, but I assure you the water level has risen by over a foot.

How much rain have we had? I don't know, because I haven't felt like sloshing out to the rain gauge, but in the last few days I'm guessing a few inches. Today it's supposed to finally move on, pushed by some strong winds from the southwest. Yesterday the wind was out of the northeast and there were supposedly 10-14 foot waves on Lake Superior. I thought the six foot waves were bad enough!

I think we've had enough rain now. And wind. I need to get my garlic planted, and I want The Hermit to take the tractor and scoop up some good composted horse manure to fill the garden beds for next year, but the horse pasture is a muddy mess right now. I might end up planting the garlic in the same beds as last year, just because they have the most good soil in them. We also need to move the sheep tractor, the poor woolly things are sitting on a spongy bed of old hay.

At least the geese are happy.

Birds of note: Yesterday I saw my first rough-legged hawk of the fall.

morning mist

morning temperature 38 degrees

down at the old swimmin hole

It was a sultry 93 degrees when I arrived at home yesterday. I'm glad I live in a state that only has a few of these days per year.

I'm beginning to think a pond is more than a luxury. The pond is our air conditioning, our quick relief, and our cheap entertainment on evenings like this. In retrospect, we were very lucky to have chosen this piece of land with an ideal spot for digging a pond. For one thing, the pond is dug in a fluvial deposit of sand and gravel; for non-geologists, that's sand and gravel deposited by large rivers that formed when the glaciers of the last Ice Age were retreating. There isn't a lot of fine silt in this kind of soil, so the pond water stays very clear, and there's a firm bottom for swimming.

For another thing, it's not too far down to groundwater, so the pond does not rely on runoff. The groundwater keeps the pond cool, and keeps it from drying up, unless the water table drops drastically. However, we are in a drought year, and the water level is way down. Compare the above with this photo from April 2006:

This photo was taken from about 30 feet behind where the first was taken. The lounge chair I was sitting on when I took the photo yesterday would have been in the shallow water in this photo. We did get some rain last night, but it's going to take a lot more to bring the water levels back up where they should be.


Low water or not, we still had fun. Calvin spent a lot of time on the other end of the pond in the kayak, gazing intently into the water. I was wondering what he was up to, but I soon found out.


Turtle hunting. Calvin found not one but two young painted turtles, which now are residing with two others in our Turtle Hotel at the house. I'll have to post on that later.

I was really pleased with the above photo, especially the lighting. I look at it and I see my boy in all the innocence of turtle catching, but at the same time looking more and more like a handsome young man. And look at those eyes--very deep, warm, thoughtful, and sensitive. Much like his dad.

It seems like life just gets more and more hectic, I feel like work takes away too much of my time, like my kids are growing up and I hardly get to spend any time with them. But then I think of moments like this at our pond, splashing and kayaking and turtle hunting, and realize that, for all its hassles and trials, life is...good.