Turtles, and Possums, and Deer—Oh My!

One thing about being at Mom’s is the variety of wild life. Sure, my neighbors had a couple of yellow-crowned great herons or something like that in their tree, and sure, I had a ton of squirrels and birds around, but that’s been nothing like just a single day at Mom’s.

As for regular stuff, she’s got a great birdfeeder set up in the back, and tons of birds visit. Naturally, of course, the squirrels love it too. And Howard, as you can imagine, loves running out to chase the squirrels. As we took our walk Thursday morning, he even spotted a deer. Then came Saturday.

Mom and I spent most of the day working in the house. We spent a little time seeing our creations from the day before, but we also got her computer stuff set up, I caught up on some blogging, and she worked on organizing her inbox and favorites. (Of course, you can give a person file folders, but if they don’t think they’ll remember what they put in each folder, they won’t do any good. Well, at least I gave the (knowledge of) folders.)

Sometime late that morning, I noticed something in the back yard. Well, my goodness! It was a turtle! Howard had never seen a turtle, that I knew of, and I figured he’d be intrigued. But to protect the turtle, I did leash Howard.

When Howard finally spotted it, he was indeed interested.


And he followed along behind it, sniffing, and sometimes getting close enough to jump back with the turtle stuck his head up.

Of course, then the turtle withdrew into his shell, and Howard, being the dog he is,, well, knocked on the door. Yes, he pawed at it. Me, fearful for the turtle, pulled Howard back. This went on a while, and finally, I decided they’d both probably had enough.

Later that day, we spotted the following out Mom's front window:


On Sunday morning, we saw this cutie:


When Howard and I went out to see if we could see the bunny, alas, he had just hopped away. But we looked down the road, and we spotted two deer---one near the road and one in the woods. They didn't want us too close, so the pictures aren't very good, but here ya go:




But I think Howard's most exiting time came Saturday night. I was in the living room, taking care of a little computer things and watching a little tv. Howard had already gone in my room to go to bed. Then he came out. He rushed to the back door, demanding to go in the back yard.

I let him out, and a few minutes later, he was ready to come back in. When I let him in, this is what I noticed in the bird feeder:

Umm Hmmm: a possum! I clicked a few photos, then went back inside. As I was uploading the pics to leave for Mom, Howard went and knocked on her door. She came out, I filled her in, and we all went back outside. This time, though, Howard found the possum and thought he had to stay there, bark at it, and keep it in place. What a little hunting dog I have!

The poor possum, of course, was terrified, clinging to the highest point on the bird feeder pole.


Finally, though, I offered to take Howard on a walk, and he was willing to leave the possum. We walked down then back up Mom's street and called it a night.

Take Me to the River

Last weekend Howard and I headed back to the park along the Mississippi. As the pictures show, the water level was much different.

First, a recap of the picture from last month:


















And here's a shot in nearly the same spot (except, of course, I'm standing where it used to be under water):

An Ecotourism Experience

Chumbe Island is a small island off the west coast of Zanzibar—not too far into the Pemba Channel.


What once was a military island, the coral reefs around the island had not been exposed to damaging fishing or boat anchors. When the island was no longer going to be needed by the military, a woman, noticing the pristine condition of the reef, thought the coral needed protection. She set her thoughts into action, and eventually, a private organization took got protection for the reef—at least on the west side of Chumbe Island.


But how to keep the reef as pristine? First, no fishing is allowed on the reef. Also, no boats can try to anchor in the area. Finally, the island is set up as an ecotourism location—allowing people to visit the island, researchers to learn about the island, and the island protection.

With ecotourism, to my limited understanding, we try to leave as little impact on an area as possible. In other words, the goal is for humans to hardly change anything from the natural state.

Some things about Chumbe . . . .

First, access to this island is not as easy as most tourists are accustomed to. No pier or dock serves the boat to the island, and the boat is at the mercy of the tide. For us, it was low tide when we were to catch the boat. And so to get there, we rolled up our pant legs and waded out to the boat. (Fortunatley, the rain was just then ending, even though the skies still appeared a bit ominous. They cleared quickly over the next hour.)


Our (now arrived) luggage? The staff from the boat (the small boat) raised each suitcase above their heads and carried each piece the long distance from the dry shore out to the boat. While we’d had notice that wading was required, always remember that knee-deep for one person might be mid-thigh deep for another (who’s as short as I am).

And again, once at the island, we had to wade to the shore. Upon leaving the island, I was happy for my last wading-through-the-surf experience. (Little did I know, but of course, that there was more to come.) (Here's the pic of us leaving. The water was indeed so incredibly blue.)


Chumbe has no electricity. All power the island uses is from solar power. We had lights in our bungalow, and we even had a small fan in the upstairs, which I pointed directly on my bed at night. (Mimi was fine sleeping in the heat, but me, I missed my A/C.) There was a large solar panel that was meant to heat water for showers, but we never did actually get that to work. Still, the weather was hot, and so the cool showers were actually refreshing.

Water? All water used on the island is collected from rainwater. The bungalows and visitor’s center are designed with this purpose in mind. The roofs are sloped so as to most efficiently collect water, and they have a Swiss filtration system, filtering that rainwater several times making it even safe enough to drink.

Ah, but if water is conserved so well, what about the toilet? It’s a composting toilet. From the room, it looks like a regular toilet. One difference, however is that the lid had a seal around it to seal the lid and the seat tightly. Also, of course, there’s no flusher. Once you, um, “go,” you simply take two scoops of dirt (which is really compost that’d been composting for over a year) and pour the scoops into the toilet. Only biodegradable items can be put down the toilet. It’s equipped with a vent pipe, reducing the odor significantly. In fact, the odor isn’t a sewage-type odor; it’s more earthy. About every six months, they remove the lowest level of what is now compost, and things just keep going.


With all this ecotourism and protecting the environment, Chumbe also is protecting two rare species. First, the coconut crab—the largest land-dwelling crab in existence. Also, Chumbe is home to the Aders Diaker, a very small and very rare antelope.


Other wildlife? I can say that I’ve truly never seen so many hermit crabs in my life! They are everywhere! Of course, anywhere else, and tourists would have scooped them up, taking them home as “pets.” But the people who go to Chumbe are the sort of people who when told, “Don’t touch; just look,” actually don’t touch. (I fear that several members of my family would be the type who would think they were the exception; too many of those sorts of people, and Chumbe’s creatures loses their protection. So sad.) Our ranger, who is authorized to touch, picked this one up for me to get a pic showing the size of this guy in the pic.

Our bungalows were designed to be environmentally friendly as well.

As I mentioned, they have solar power only, roofs designed to collect and filter rainwater, and compost toilets. They are also built with a design a bit like a ship so that the air is pulled through the bungalow, bringing in a breeze. (But the first night, after a thunderstorm, the air was so still, no amount of design—other than the small fan—could provide relief.)

Our bungalow also provided an incredible view of the water and wonderful accomodations. Downstairs was a table and sitting area, including a hammock for relaxing. Upstairs were two beds with a mosquito net, the fan, and a small reading lamp. Sarongs were provided for us (with polite requests to use them so as not to offend any of the staff who are Muslim). Between our bungalow and the water was a large padded swing and two lounge chairs.





The island has only seven bungalows, and they limit the guests to only fourteen people at a time. When we arrived, there were four other overnight guests and one couple there just for the day—for snorkeling, a forest walk, and lunch.

All over the area where the bungalows are you can find places for relaxing. Near the beach is a sheltered area, about the size of a queen-sized bed. Inside is a canvas-covered mattress atop a platform that swings—yes, the entire bed is a swing! There’s another shelter near the beach with giant cushions and pillows, some bleached shells, and the wonderful ocean breeze—a place just begging you to lie down with a good book and enjoy the sound of the waves and the feel of the ocean breeze. Of course, I truly just loved going to the beach area---natural white fine-grain sand. And with so few people as guests, each time I went, I had solitude---me, the sun, and the gentle surf. Heaven.


My personal favorite spot, though, was upstairs in the visitor’s center. The center was originally built as the lighthouse keeper’s home. It has now been turned into a visitor’s center with several sitting areas, a dining room, and a classroom. (The island brings children from the island of Zanzibar to learn about conservation, swimming, and ocean wildlife.) (The second picture is as viewed from our intertidal walk.)



And upstairs is a very large area, sucking in a refreshing breeze that gently, but wonderfully, whispers thorugh your hair, continuously with the breeze. Over in one far corner is a suspended swing overlooking the northwest side of the island’s coast. From there, I sat, read my book, stared out at the boats, and just “was.” That was indeed fabulous. Sitting, and swinging here, I would take a break from reading my book and gaze out at the water. Looking north, I could see the colorful boats anchored just off shore. These boats were there waiting to take staff mmebers off the island, provide a small dhow ride for guests, and to take us off shore to the incredible reef for snorkeling. Looking west, the water reached usually as far as you could see. (One particularly clear afternoon, you could just barely make out the coast of the mainland of Tanzania.) But breaking up that view, every so often, would be a dhow passing by---no doubt, carrying fishermen out to make a living.





And the food? You might worry with all this “basic” approach, the food wouldn’t be anything special. But it was splendid! I met John, the cook, on the boat ride over. And did he ever do a fabulous job. Seafood kabobs one night, beef another, fabulous ratatouille, wonderful curried veggies, and of course, always lots and lots of fresh fruit. In addition to wonderful flavor, the setting for each meal was spectacular. Most meals we sat with a wonderful view overlooking the ocean.

And our first night, for dinner, three tables were set up near the beach. Yes, just three tables because there were only six guests staying overnight. Here's a view of our dining room--as seen from atop the lighthouse.



Our second morning we started off with a forest walk. Our forest ranger, Juma (yes, we met about four men named Juma—a very popular name on Zanzibar), guided us around a path, pointing out the trees that are adapted to survive on this coral rag—with barely a few inches of soil atop a lot of rock. We found fossilized giant clams, learned about the tree (this cactus-looking one) that is poisonous (but also, as part of the Chumbe forest reserve, still protected), and saw two coconut crabs. We also saw mother-in-law tongue plants growing wild in their natural habitat. The view from the east side of the island was as wonderful as that on the west.

As we passed by the island “workshop,” we also passed the compost area for the kitchen—where they place all the discarded fruit and vegetable matter. The hermit crabs were having an absolute feast! Juma explained that the hermits feed hungrily during the day, but at night, the coconut crabs change places with the hermits, hungrily feeding on what’s left. Here's a puzzle for you---click on the picture below (to enlarge it) and see how many hermit crabs you see chowing down on this compost pile of fruit and veggie scraps:



Shortly after our return from the forest walk, we walked out for an intertidal walk. We started a bit too late after low tide, so we couldn’t make the walk around the whole island, which is possible if you start out at just the right time. But we did make it out to an area of land that during high tide, is an island. In the many tidal pools, we saw many urchins, lots of different types of crabs, and even several giant clams. We also found several sea cucumbers, which, when gently prodded by Juma, squirted water. I said, “Oh, he peed” This amused Juma quite a bit, and he kept saying, “It peed.” I wasn’t sure he knew that was slang, and I then explained, “urinated,” and Juma said, “Urinated—that is the scientific name, no?” I tried then to change what the cucumber did to “spitting,” but I still fear Juma’s next guests will hear how the cucumber “pees.” Sigh.


Both days we were there, we enjoyed about an hour-long snorkeling journey over the protected reef. What beautiful coral! Now, what I would see later off the east coast of Zanzibar would be more breathtaking overall, but this, well, this was amazing due to the sheer variety. The reef has over 200 species of coral! Absolutely amazing!


That lighthouse I mentioned? It’s still in operation. Many of the fishing boats around Zanzibar are dhows, and the dhows are a very basic sailing boat with no sort of computer. And so, a lighthouse is an appreciated item from those sailors. But because the lighthouse was changed to a type of gas that doesn’t need as much maintenance, no longer does a lighthouse keeper need to live on the island. On our first night, we climb the many steps up to the top, rewarded with an amazing view of the island and surrounding waters.

The sound of Chumbe was pure island-quiet. You could hear the sound of the waves, gently lapping the shore’s edge. But otherwise, there was no music, no artificial sounds, no nothing. It was just nature’s relaxation soundtrack.


And so, my time on Chumbe was certainly enjoyed. We left early Tuesday morning, our bags, once again carried out to the boat as we waded out as well. As the boat moved back to the main island of Zanzibar, we bid farewell to Chumbe Island, its beauty, and its peace.

No, it isn’t a “resort” type of place (although the prices could have seemed so). But every staff member was welcoming, helpful, and seemed genuinely interested in your having a good, relaxing time. But would I return? It’s not on my top list of things to do. After all, I have many other places to visit. But it was incredible, and I don't hesitate to recommend it to anyone else--provided, of course, you can handle a little ecotourism.

PS: Our last night on Chumbe, we ordered a bottle of champagne with dinner, and indeed, we toasted my sister's birthday. Happy Birthday Charla!

Yellow, Orange, and Red---Oh My!

Whether due to the early fall rains or whatever, the fall colors here are more beautiful than I've ever seen in person--ever. Sure, Fort Worth had a patch or two of color, but here, it's so much more. My crepe myrtles alone were so much more fabulous than I'd ever seen in North Texas. And the dogwoods---Wow! Such deep reds. Every day that I drive down any road, I'm amazed at the beauty of the colors.

I'm used to, if we were lucky enough to get fall color, seeing some yellow and maybe a couple of trees with a hint of more. But here---oh my! The brilliant oranges catch my breath each day. And the brightness of the yellows is unlike any I've ever seen. Add to that the incredible depth of the reds, and well, what a palette.

Of course, with the beauty, comes work. I've filled a couple of bags each of the last two weeks with leaves--and that's even with me using the mower to mulch those leaves on the yard. My neighbors say we've got another eight rakes' worth in store for us. At least it's a chance to get outside and enjoy. (But I did take down the phone number of the boys who stopped by today asking to rake my yard; these kids know how to make money. What is, by the way, the going rate on yard raking?)

I have taken a few photos, which I'll post soon. But the true beauty is hard to capture; I don't have a spot where I can snap a shot from up above. I only wish I could see Overton Park right now from high up. How gorgeous it must be.


Still no word on Africa. (I'm supposed to leave on the 30th, but in the last ten days, we've gotten no response on our inquiry as to confirmation on our tickets. I fear their justice dept did not get funding to cover the trip.) It's hard; I am completely ovewhelmed with what's got to be done otherwise in the next couple of months, but it's hard to tend to thinking I'm leaving the country for so long in less than two weeks. I know: the biggest challenge I have is just to breathe. Somehow everything else will work itself out.

With everything, I am trying to keep up a workout schedule at the gym. Lately, though, my hip has been much worse. How did, after all, those many pieces of broken glass get into my joint? ;-) And I cannot remember a day in the last few months that my back didn't send pains down my side or leg. On the up side, I've lived with chronic pain for ten years now, so it's just another day, right? It just hampers the gym motivation (even when I know that proper exercise actually helps me feel better---which more often than not, is what gets me there, after all.)

Zoo Pics

Here are my pics from the Memphis Zoo. It is a very nice zoo. A lot of people said it was much better than that in Fort Worth. Yes, some things are better. But still, Fort Worth does some things better too.

One thing Memphis does that I really like is daily "keeper chats." Each day, someone who's a keeper of certain animals comes out to the front of that exhibit and talks about the animals. I made it by for the tiger chat, and she even had a whole fish to give each tiger as a treat. (that's why these tigers are coming into the water--to get closer to the keeper who they knew was about to toss 'em each a fish.) We watched as the brother stole his sister's fish, but then she got another one.



I became a member of the zoo, allowing me and a guest to visit free for a year. It's nice because it's only a couple of minutes from my house, and there's a lot more to see that I didn't make it to a few weeks ago. It's also just a great way to "escape" for an afternoon, even in the middle of the city.

Gilbert's Web

A few weeks ago, I noticed a spider web on the far side of my front porch. My philosophy with outdoor webs--so long as it's not in my path, I leave it be. After all, the spider catches bugs, and usually the spider builds the web so as to trap bugs flying toward my porch light. This placement is ideal for catching bugs before they fly into my house!

So I left the web alone, allowing it to remain. And I named the spider Gilbert.

Gilbert's web first disappeared during a big storm we had a couple of weeks ago, but within two days, it was back. This has happened occasionally, but Gilbert works hard keeping his web in good shape. And it's one of those "pretty" webs too--the kind with the "wheel" look.

Last Wednesday, I got quite a treat: I got to watch Gilbert rebuild his web. now, I'm pushing forty, but I'd never seen a spider actually build this sort of web. It was quite amazing! And, yes, if you've figured your calendar correctly, indeed, it was Halloween! I had joked to a neighbor that I'd hired Gilbert to be my Halloween decoration, and gosh, I guess a bonus is due---a brand new web on Halloween!

A week ago, taking an afternoon off last Sunday after the very busy week and out-of-town trip, I finally made it to the zoo. As I was leaving the area called the Northwest Passage, I took the long way out, stopping to read about Chief Seattle. And as I left the area, I passed this rock. Quite an inscription, eh?

Butterflies . . . and Birds!

Last Sunday, before catching my flight back home, I visited Butterfly World in Florida--near Fort Lauderdale. What an amazing place! And after seeing a few exhibits about the life cycle of the butterfly, you walk through a couple of doors to an amazing sight: hundreds of butterflies fluttering around an oasis of tropical flowers, small ponds and fountains, and lush greenery. I was overwhelmed and amazed by the sight, but perhaps what was especially enjoyable was watching the small children come through those doors, their eyes widening in wonder, small squeals of delight as they took in the sight of the hundreds of butterflies. I'll put a slide show in below, but first, check out this video for just a glimpse into the place:

And yes, if you stay still for very long, you might just have a visitor! (When you leave the butterfly area, you walk through a double set of doors, with an air current, and with mirrors so you can check all sides to make sure you're not leaving with and hitchhikers!)

Here are lots of pictures from the butterfly rooms. Several shots are just flowers, and there's one shot of a butterfly just emerging.

In addition to the butterflies, the place had many many birds. This is the first blue hummingbird I've ever seen! (He's hovering, wings flapping, just over this dish of sliced bananas (an owl butterfly is enjoying a banana.)

There was also this room set aside for Australian lorikeets. There were truly amazing. Here's a video of a couple of the colorful birds in the bath (I recommend you have sound for this one):

You could purchase a small container of nectar to feed the lorikeets who would land on your hand and arm, drinking in the sweet juice. But be careful! As the pics below show, they'd also land anywhere else---even on one woman's head! I had one try to crawl in my bag too. Silly birds. Other than the lorikeets, there were many other incredibly colorful birds--several types of hummingbirds, several pairs of huge macaws, finches, and many others.



Truly a fabulous place---beautiful, peaceful, and an amazing break from the hectic pace of life.

Out Back

Our new backyard---we love it! Ah, yes, Howard especially. No, we don't have the flowers we used to, but we have lots more shade from trees, and many squirrels call the trees home. Once I got my bird feeders up a couple of weeks ago, the word went out in the squirrel community: All you can eat Buffet!

Ah, but sadly, this morning after I returned from the gym, I opened the door to let Howard out, only to immediately usher him back inside. It appeared that survival of the fittest had been in action in the back. A squirrel lay on the brick patio, dead. It appeared to have fallen from the tree far, far above (there are several squirrel nests in them thar trees). I cleared the body away, called dead animal removal (so it doesn't sit in the garbage for six days), and washed away the blood. Sad, but then again, the squirrel population isn't served well by having a squirrel passing along the "I can't run along a tree branch safely" gene. Sigh.

But the birds come too! I have a lot of cardinals---males and females---and a few doves who regularly enjoy the safflower seed I put out. (Here there are more cardinals and fewer doves. Hmmm---guess being closer to St Louis, makes sense. ;-) Anyway, several other varieties have been hanging around the feeder, but I haven't been able to get a good look yet. I'd like to get another feeder up soon. But the tree branches are a bit too high for my long hanging hooks, so I need to get another ground pole. Eventually.

Howard, however, distracted by watching out for squirrels, tends to ignore the birds now. WooHoo! He'd gotten in the habit of chasing birds back in Texas---I have a strong suspicion that a mockingbird did a little dive-bombing shortly before we moved. But now, Howard will often go out the door, stop at the top of the steps of the back patio, then dash across the yard to the back where the feeder hangs. Often, two or three squirrels scatter---leaping to the safety of nearby trees. It's quite a sight!

Here are a few shots of the back. In most, you can see Howard, first surveying the trees after his initial dash out to the back, and in later shots, just hanging out, sniffing and watching. (The building at the back of the yard is my garage; yep---it has an extra room to the side of it. The building has electricity, and with a window unit, could even be useful. But for me, it's just extra storage---lots of extra storage! (which is actually mostly empty right now.))







Here are a few more of Howard---soaking up the sun while keeping watch on the trees, hanging out on the patio, then stepping up to give me a kiss on the steps. What a sweetie!







Of course, I haven't forgotten Sophie! She has wondered into the backyard once---totally under my supervision. She smelled everything and had a good time checking things out, but she still most enjoys hanging out near the air vent. I figure it's like her little spa treatment.





Sophie also has found her basket of toys. I keep them in the same spot as before--in a basket on top of the piano. Her favorite toys are pipe cleaners, of all things! Most mornings I awake to find two, three, sometimes four pipe cleaners on the floor in the study or bedroom. It's our game: I pick them up and return them to the basket, and the next night, she goes hunting again---bringing me, of course, her prey.

And thus, yes, she goes outside only when supervised. After all---pipe cleaners are a little more tame to hunt than the things that really lurk in the outdoors.