We Have Eggs!

Mark's nest digging was for real. Early this morning it rained 3 inches in under 3 hrs. It was impossible to get all the mud off the 5 eggs and keep them stable. Turtle eggs shouldn't be rolled or swirled once they have settled, I guess because that can make the embryo/yolk pull away from the side of the egg.

So I did the best I could and put them in the vermiculite in the same position they were settled in the nest. The bottom most egg in the 6th pic is set in there vertically, and I don't know if it will hatch. Actually I don't know if any will hatch. Last year none of the eggs I collected were fertile and the moles got all the others right after they were laid. We think Rebel is willing and able this year but we haven't seen any action.

The eggs will stay on a shelf in the little toilet room. We'll keep the room about 74-78 for 10-12 weeks and see.

Pic from last summer, Mark dropping an egg

This is what a nest looks like right after the laying (last summer)

This is the nest today after work

After some scraping I uncovered the top 2 eggs. So much rain had filled the extra space in there, which usually consists of loose dirt and leaf/grass litter, with solid mud. I have never seen this before.


This is Rehab keeping a close eye on the removal process. She stayed there watching me the whole time.

Here are the 5 eggs in the box of vermiculite. They usually look whiter than this at this point, so I don't know if this means something is wrong or what. If they don't turn white in a few days something will definitely be wrong.

Their new home -- next to the toilet paper!

Memo Day

At 6pm I decided to take a quick, fast hike and I did. I parked high with the flat area of Rock City my destination. The washing machine was less than 15 min from the upper, and flat Rock City about 25. I had to step carefully and evasively a lot because of all the rain we had last night. Parts I've never seen muddy were standing in water. The pros of hiking after a big rain: frogs croaking in the pond areas, roly polies crossing the path all over the place, happy birds, butterflies, no other people. The cons of hiking after a big rain: all the standing water and mud, no honeysuckle fragrance, and some kind of a bee/fly that kept landing in my hair over and over and over. I had to sweep my hand over my hair every few seconds to get it off. It was loud and heavy. Total hike 1 hr. I had to hose off my soles afterward. I took just one bottle of water in the sling case, and it was very nice not having the backpack. Without the backpack, though, I didn't have my sweat rag, (which I needed) kleenex (which I didn't need), emergency pills (which I didn't need for vertigo, back spasms or breathing issues.) While walking back I picked one tick off my leg, then another off my arm on the way home. Nasty things.
First day flower of the season! Actually there were 4 today, but today was the first day.

This is the same day flower at 8pm. They usually whither about 2-ish

This is from the tumble down barrel where the pink flowers always bloom. This is the first year there have also been white ones.

This morning I found a worm and tossed it in the compound. The whole series is in an album on Hooly's facebook page

At 8 pm Blocky was still up, I don't know why

Mark was digging a nest. It's almost 9:30 and she's still digging, so maybe it's real. Often they partially dig false nests. I don't know if they are testing the soil, or tricking egg predators.

You put your left leg in...

You take your left leg out! You can see the scoop of dirt she has. It's a labor-intensive process. Heee!

Relative Hike

My sister-in-law and I hiked alone, no cousins today. We parked low, took the blue to the upper then went west. The goal was to see the ravine and stream and go through Rock City.

Along the way she pointed out plants and their medicinal uses. I'm very impressed with her knowledge. We decided to not make a flower essence, as you have to get the petals when they are at the right stage and everything was a bit too old and weary, and the new blooms are getting ready to pop out soon.

We saw ANOTHER box turtle on the main N/S on the west. He was a perfectly beautiful speciman, with an unusually shiny and unblemished carapace (upper shell) for his age. He was too old for me to estimate, so I think that makes him at least over 25.

Total muggy, sweaty hike was 2 hrs, 20 min.

We started the day by going to the Cherry Street Farmer's Market. Weather was overcast, windy and coolish and it was perfect. I bought some chipotle blend rub and candied ginger root.

From the market we walked around Swan Lake while the weather was still perfect. We saw a box turtle, many red-eared sliders and other aquatic species, a monarch, red-winged blackbird, a beautiful whitish caterpillar on the fence, a few mallards and white ducks, and of course the 2 swans! My nephew (from the Music Man) got some excellent pics but I don't have them to share. He's an artist but has been taking pics only since March, and has a natural eye for good composition.

We went to Hideaway for dinner and were joined by the Squares, then 3 of us took a Riverparks walk afterward.

Short Hike After Work

I previously said Eddie's hiking days were "over, or almost over" for the season. I decided to take him after work today and stay on non-brushy trails. We parked low, took the blue to the upper then north on the tadpole just to the descent to the taturmobile.

Initially it was so humid I was using my sweat rag about every 10 yds or so, but after about 30 minutes I either acclimated, ran out of bodily fluids to sweat, or the humidity dropped. That was nice, because I hate sweat dripping off my face.

At the top on the SE side of the upper there was a little drying pool, now mostly mud. As I stood looking to see whether or not I would be fretting over taddies running out of room I saw something wonderful: dozens of the itty-bittiest toadlets I have ever seen. Eddie and I had to step carefully to avoid walking on them. Now I remember why I couldn't stop taking pics of them last spring and summer. Every time I see them I think these are the cutest ones ever and I must have a photo. I didn't take my camera today, so they're just a memory.

A tiny cutie from last June.
For the most part the usual puddle places were small and drying, making all parts of the trail easily navigible... navigable... navigatable? I should have worn my boots that I don't like to get muddy. Between the 2 lakes on the left there are luscious acres and acres of blackberries that are useless to me because they are intertwined with horrible brambles. Any plant with thorns that reaches out, takes hold and spreads it ugly self around I call brambles. Blackberry thorns are big and bad enough, but couple them with brambles and forget it.

There were still some flowers on the canes just past the 2nd lake, and maybe my sister-in-law, who is coming this weekend, will decide if there are enough to pick and make a flower essence with. She's on the road to becoming an Herbalist, and she said she'd bring some of her stuff in case we find anything useful. Cool.

We encountered one hiker w/ backpack while return on the tadpole. That's a bit unusual; I usually don't see any hikers or bikers on that route because that route is HELLACIOUS in the sun. Anyway, he complimented Eddie as we passed.

On our descent we took the west side of the blue and there was a horse and rider coming through the low brushy area that was cleared by PSO last fall. Eddie spied them and he stood on alert on a woodsy side trail until they turned and headed north through the woods. After the big cut vine and before joining with the main trail I found another box turtle! I picked her up for ID purposes, and saw she had pretty orange on her face and cheery yellow on her forelegs. She looked about 13-16 yrs old, much like the young man I found recently on the top near the meadow. I set her back down and waited for her to come out and get away from us but she just stayed hunkered down. I'm used to turtles who aren't a bit afraid of people, but of course they're used to me.

Total hike 1hr, 20 min.

I had tossed some mealworms and beetles into the compound just before leaving for the hike (the "regulars" were hanging around there - Mark, Blocky, and Rehab) and looked in on them when I returned home. Rehab was out past bedtime still routing/rutting around for them.

It was dusk out and the pic I took with the flash filled in the shadows too much, so I opted for no flash and longer shutter speed, therefore a bit blurry. But at least you can see her row of rutting in front, and she's starting a 2nd row.

2 Ticks for Ed

This evening I found 2 attached ticks on Eddie -- one dead, one alive. I told him a couple of weeks ago that after 2 ticks I would leave him at home. So no more, or not much more, hiking for Ed until fall.

After the news was announced, Eddie sulked...

Mark relaxed in her spa...

Rebel enjoyed himself, Sunny not so much...


And Lucy, who never gets to go hiking, just laughed!

Later Eddie pondered his life as it seemed to be slipping away

Hiking in the Heat

Eddie and I got a later start than planned -- we arrived at the lower just after 1pm. We took the craggy trail to the top of the mountain (hill), and after taking it on 3 consecutive hikes I've decided it's my favorite way to the top. The pipevine swallowtails were active in the same two places as earlier this week.

My first digression from my plan was due to a man and his dog. A perfectly fine-looking man and fine-looking dog, but when they turned in the direction I wanted to go I knew it wouldn't work. Ed gets worked up when someone, even without a dog, is in front of us, so I continued north, joined with the yellow and headed towards the prehistoric turtle head boulder.

It was slow and pleasant with the sweet fragrance of honeysuckle. We continued on to the spider and here I made my mistake. I decided to go west, toward the vicinity of Pepsi Lake. Poison oak was abundant, the trail narrow, and we gradually made our way toward snapper creek. Just when the creek came into view we encountered a very large, flat rock. I stepped carefully as I went across, because though it wasn't wet, we had rain earlier this week, and I know how deceiving an apparently "dry" creeky rock can look.

I don't know how it happened but my feet literally began slipping to and fro, and somehow I stayed upright. I felt like a bad cartoon, then I b e g a n to f a l l. I landed with a splat on the large face of the rock, and stunned, I sat, well actually I was sprawled out, for a moment. As soon as I got my head about me I quickly looked in all directions to make sure no one saw me. I hadn't seen anyone for an hour, so why I worried now I don't know. Finally I tried to get up but the whole surface of the rock was like ice. There was no way possible to get up. So there I was sprawled out like a toady splat, when I began kicking and spinning (as much as possible) my body around trying to work myself over to the ground. Thank goodness, and I do mean THANK GOODNESS for my hiking pole. My right foot finally made it onto the leaf-littered soil, which gave me friction to nudge closer off the rock, til I was finally able to use my pole and my right leg to hoist myself up.
I scraped my arm but that was it. The worst part was that today I was wearing my brand new hiking shorts, the exact replacement of the ones I ripped the ass out of while creating a new shortcut about 35 feet down the side of the mountain over on the east side last summer. (Those shorts were creatively repaired by my wonderful friend, but ripped to shreads during a later fall-and-scoot activity.) I'm glad to say my shorts are fine.

Now that I was wearing the "Look at me I FELL" dirty butt, I contiued proudly, but slowly, on my way. We crossed the creek 3 times and it was kind of fun walking through the shallow parts. Even Eddie, who is pretty fastidious about the grooming of his feet, didn't seem to mind.

We came out on the tadpole right at the snapper pool, which meant a long hike, a long ascending hike, a long ascending hike in the full sun after I was already tired. When we got to the top of the next-to-the-last hill I cut over to the east to go the rest of the way on mostly shaded trails. I knew it would be longer, but the shade was more important. So I turned into the area by the turtle egg nest from last year and then immediately left onto the little trail where I found the duck-foot rock.

Pic from last summer. The nest was so large, and up about 30 yds from a pond, that I know it had to be an aquatic species


After I first saw this by the trail last summer I couldn't stop thinking about it, so one day I picked it up. It's rather yellow, and really does resemble Donald Duck's foot

We meandered a while, sat in the shade and shared half a ham sandwich and some grapes, then finally made it to the descent. During the descent I met a biker walking his bike up an impassable rocky hill, and it was the same older guy I saw over on the west side a few weeks ago! I'm very impressed.

The hike was 2 hrs 15 minutes, and we stopped and Eddie drank 5 times. This was the first hike ever that he used his entire bottle of water.

Pics I didn't get because I didn't have my camera, and I'm glad I didn't because it would have hit the rock during my toady splat episode:
> a great shot of a pipevine swallowtail
> a huge nightcrawler trying to get across the dry dusty path, and yes I helped it

This was its destiny had I not intervened
> the first actual blackberry heads
> an old man on a bike
> not one, but two ring-necked snakes

A holding ring-necked snake from the cousin hike 9-29-07
After the hike I took 600mg ibuprofen because the fall nearly did me in, then I still had to hike out. I stopped at my mom's, reclined and napped during a ball game (Cards won 9-8, and the Squares were actually AT Busch Stadium) and when I was recuperated we got carry-out Chinese.

Rainy Hike

I dithered before going -- was it going to rain or not? Trav said not for a while, so I went. I took Eddie and an old bright orange rain poncho. I parked low and went up the craggy hill to the top, then headed west. The sprinkling turned into a light shower right after I started and I thought it was enjoyable. It showered off and on throughout our hike.

When it showered heavier I had to be careful on the rocks, and even then I slipped a few times. I was very thankful I had my trekking pole with me, as I do believe it saved a fall once. I kept debating whether or not to put on the LOOKATME orange poncho. I couldn't bear the thought of creating my own personal sauna. Even though the weather was coolish, about 70, wearing plastic definitely makes me hot. I was relieved it wasn't raining just a little harder, and relieved that I had it with me just in case. For the most part the canopy protected us.

Today I particularly noticed a certain wildflower, the purple cuppish one. It grows on one tall stalk, like an iris, and has one, two or three flowers on top and sometimes some more buds waiting to bloom. They dotted the trails, all the trails, and a few grew in the open meadowy areas, but mostly they were in the shade here and there. I've decided to find out what they are and put some in the future turtle compound.

This pic is from last summer. I'll have to take one which shows the pretty stalk UPDATE 6-4-08: Thanks again to Cranky Lady for telling me these are spiderworts!
There also seemed to be an abundance of the yellow flowers. They grew mostly in the open meadowy areas, but they dotted the shady trail areas, too. The overcast sky made the yellow petals especially bright and sharp--really pretty. I want some of those in the compound also.

Pic is from last summer
We headed to the raccoon carcass and saw that it's beginning to fall apart now. Past the raccoon carcass a ways I intended to take a cut through to the right and bypass the ravine area, but the overgrowth of poison ivy, just since I was last there, made that impossible for me. There were times I felt like I was maneuvering through security laser lights just getting down the trail. Long tendrils reached out while I tried to remain centered. I believe I was successful, but 72 hrs will tell. I may not take that trail again until late fall.

We finally made it to the old rocky road and looped around on the Fairy Dust. Instead of veering left and crossing at the apple-snacking boulder we went straight and came up the back way to the washing machine. We finished by cutting in front of the 3 lakes, then back out. As we passed the tree from which the deer skull once hung Eddie stopped, looked up, reached up, then continued. He's amazing.

As we started the descent from the upper the rain really picked up. By this point my hair and backpack were wet, glasses fogged, and with about 12 minutes left in the hike I had to put on the dreaded poncho. There were 4 other cars left in the lot, no one was in them, and I slipped off the poncho before being seen by anyone, I believe.

Total hike was 1 hr 45 min.