I have seen the weirdest creatures since spring decided to get sprung. Oh, by the way, we have a new addition to the family. Tom found a box turtle that now has a very nice home. She doesn’t have a name yet, but she looks to be pretty old. Her shell around the edges is pretty beat up, but otherwise, she is a pleasure. Katie likes watching TV with her.
Anyway, on to the mutants. I’m digging out a small pond for the turtle and I find this thumb size freaky peach colored thing. It looked almost like a sand flea. It has pincers, and the body curved around. Unfortunately, It was damaged in the digging. After some googling, evidently it is a pupae of a beetle. A darned big one from the looks of it.
Today, Fathers Day, we had a picnic at the community park. The park has a playground and a great little stream as well as some rockin’ rocks for climbing. Tom was panning for gold while Katie was freezing her butt off but refusing to get out of the water. She likes wood. She likes throwing wood and watching it float downstream. She also likes throwing rocks. We actually went to 3 different waterfalls today. She is a natural climbing around the rocks. She does not like sitting in the waterfall itself though. The fact that it is about 65 degrees and the water is around 50 degrees might have a bit to do with it.
Sorry, freaks of nature. At the Rabun Branch waterfall, I look down in the water and it looks like there is a big flower bud in the water. I grab a stick and the bud swims away! I keep looking and see what has to be a 4-5 inch tadpole. I swear, it had to be almost as big as my hand. I told Tom, he didn’t believe it was that big, then he came over to see it. His words? “Holy Shit!” We couldn’t catch one as I was unprepared. Next time? I’m bringing my water shoes, some nets and my bait bucket baby!
In the little creek that runs along our property line, I saw a nice fat crawdaddy. He hid in the much before I could gather my sanity.
Evidently, I need a camera mounted to my head at all times. We saw zero wildlife for months, and now, every day it seems I see something else/new/huge/freakish.
No snakes yet. No bears yet. No coyotes yet. Excuse me while I feverishly knock on wood.
Partly Cloudy