The newest inhabitant of the garden pond

May 18, 2017 - Wednesday

46 degrees/rain/breezy

Pentoga Road

I just came back inside after checking the rain gauge. We've received just shy of three inches during the past two days. 

It looks as though the monsoons might loosen their grip over the weekend. I hope so. There's a garden to plant! In looking at the past years' logs, I seem to be running about ten days behind schedule.

Despite the downpours, Wednesday was a busy one. I made several stops while in Iron Mountain. The trim for the upstairs bathtub was purchased at Home Depot, a herd of goldfish adopted from the pet store, and a few hollyhock plants dropped off at Jeanne and Boyd's, some I'd forgotten to include with those I gave them the night before. 

The rain had ceased by the time I got home and there was a gaggle of goldfish who were, no doubt, eager to explore their new home.

I wondered how they felt when released, to go from a small, crowded aquarium, into a smaller bag, then freed into hundreds of gallons of open water.

I checked a bit ago and they seem to be adapting quite well. Many were feeding from the surface and seemed quite happy. Returning back to their wild carp-like state, those that survive the summer will quadruple in size or grow even bigger. 

While on my hands and knees freeing the fish, I saw something out of the corner of my eye just a few inches from my face. It was a frog, a fairly large one at that.

I'm glad he didn't kiss me, I might have turned into a handsome prince and who wants to be one of those anyway?

I was happy to see the newest addition to the pond community, but have to wonder, where'd he come from? We live over a mile from the closest body of water. There are no swamps or streams close by. He simply appeared. 

It makes one wonder if frogs randomly leave a body of water, hop across meadows and through the woods until they come across someone's garden pond. 

As I said, my newest BFF web-footed amphibian is welcome and as such, I've given him a name. 

Frank. 

Pentoga Road's newest inhabitant is Frank the Frog.

While taking underwater pictures, playing mostly, then looking at them on the computer, I discovered another addition that I didn't welcome. A giant water bug, commonly known as a Toe Pincher.

They'll not only inflict a painful bite (sting) on one's toe or finger, but will eat fish, baby turtles, frogs, and any other living thing that comes within the pincer's grasp. Needless to say, I went back to the pond, once again got on my hands and knees, and searched until I found the ugly bug. The Toe Pincher has gone away.

What? The UPS man was backing into the drive. YAY!!! I greeted him by singing, "The Wells Fargo Wagon is a comin'," from the musical Music Man and happily took the box. Inside were fake floating lily pads I'd ordered from Amazon a couple of days ago, something to give the goldfish shade and cover from low flying predators. Perfect!

The lilies will also give Frank something on which to sun himself.

The lawn was shaggy despite the fact that I mowed it last Friday. With the warmer temperatures and all the rain, the lawn had grown several inches high and was sporting a few gazillion dandelions.

Hmm, I had a wild idea. Maybe I could zoom over the front and back, mow between rain showers. It had been over an hour since the last drop had fallen. Why not?

In the end, I not only mowed the immediate yard, but also the side yards, front and back meadow, and the trails. The mower was just put away when the rain began again. For once, my timing had been perfect.

I was saddened at the toll the Spruce Bud Worm has taken on my balsam trees. It seems more and more blow over with each passing storm.

I'm anxious for the logging to begin in the next week or two. I don't know what's worse, standing trees that are dying or those that have already been toppled in the wind.

One of the joys of springtime in the North Country, especially around Mother's Day, is finding immature fiddle head ferns on which to feast.

I noticed there are quite a few along one of the trails.

With the lawn and meadows/trails mowed, I slowly walked around in an attempt to find any places I might have missed.

I soon discovered with the rain falling harder and faster, I really didn't care and made a bee line for the house.

The garden and orchard are ready for planting. All that is needed is a bit of dry weather and warm days.

Sargie drove though some horrific storms on her way home last night. 

It seemed the closer she got, the more intense the weather became. Thankfully, we both have a tracking app on our iPhones and I could follow her progress. The garage door was open and the lights were on when she pulled in the drive. My Sargie was a sight for sore eyes.

She's off today and says she's going to continue working in the house. I've procrastinated about as long as I can installing the trim for the upstairs bathtub. Today's the day. There are multiple weird angles and corners, but thankfully, Sargie is here to help me read any questionable marks or measurements.

With a high of only 45 degrees forecast and rain, I doubt I'll be frolicking and playing outside too much. 

I hope to plant this new dogwood bush between rain showers sometime today. 

Maybe I'll just content myself with pretending to think deep thoughts and act professorial. You know, rub my chin with a far-off look in my eyes as though I'm entirely too important and wise to do menial labor... like installing trim around a bathtub. (I knew quite a few idiot professors who taught on campus at the university who truly believed that.)

Yeah, that ain't gonna cut it with Sargie. Time to get busy. 

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Hey, I'm multi faceted! Capable of thinking deep thoughts AND doing menial labor at the same time, those high falutin' professors have nothing on me!