"Just Mice" is Just Right for Snakes

Today I deployed my funnel snake trap. This is a humane no kill trap that gets the snake inside via a funnel, like a lobster trap, and then you release it when and where you want to. I baited the trap with “Just Mice”, a ground up mouse mixture that mouse eaters can’t resist. We will see just what happens. There are some pesky water snakes that I think are eating my gold fish, and lots of others that are no problem. I’ll post photos (see, optimistic at the start) of the catches as they happen.
And, if there is no action in the trap, I can always mix the Just Mice with a little Vegemite and spread it on toast. Yummmmy. (KC, you can field test it for me.)
Image: www. dunnsfishfarm.com

Dining in Nicaragua One: Guapote

Guapote is a fine fish to eat. This fish belongs to the cichlid group of fish, a very aggressive predator, and the name is pronounced “wa-po-te”.
We were staying at a place on the isthmus between the volcanoes on Ometepe island in Lake Nicaragua. Not much of a place by gringo standards, but clean sheets, fans and not too many bitey things. And a restaurant. This was comprised of a couple of plastic tables with plastic chairs set out on the rear porch. The kitchen was an open air affair, wood burning stove, and an old coke cooler, chest type, for refrigeration. Thatch roof and open air. Rats usually seen running along the rafters waiting to grab something left carelessly out. The grill was a couple of pieces of rebar, bent and sagging from years of use, with a single log underneath providing the heat and smoke.
I had a grilled guapote, crosshatched in one inch squares with garlic rubbed into the cuts. This beauty was grilled to a charred perfection, along with several others for other people, and served with lime, rice and beans and I don’t remember what else. And Victoria beer, of course. The fish was probably the best I have ever eaten, bar none. The ambience was wonderful, the company outstanding and the beer cold and plentiful. Of course a bottle of 7 year old rum was on the table.
Now there might be some dispute over “Victoria” versus “Tonya” beer, but other than that, all agreed it was a great meal. And it was my birthday to boot. What a treat.
Image: www.panoramio.com. Typical way to serve guapote.

Boehner: Won't Play Golf with Women!!

What a day for hypocracy. John Boehner again. This time the news that he belongs to a Golf Club that doesn't allow women members or golfers. This from a guy that professes to represent "the people". What a crock. I wonder if blacks and jews are also banned? Would you really be surprised? Why would anybody vote for this guy, much less women? Once again I don't get it. (See also http://searchesworld.blogspot.com/2011/06/hypocrites-lead-us.html.)

Image: www.sanityscraps.tumblr.com

Charlottesville Virginia in the old days had a small college hangout where drinking got rowdy and duck races (rubber) were held as needed to relieve tension. References to this place on the web are scarce, and even the spelling is in dispute. One site calls it “Carrol’s Tea Room” while another “Carroll’s Tea Room”.
Not in dispute is the next line of the sign: “No Carrol (or Carroll), No tea. No Room.” There must be a picture of this once infamous place, but no one has bothered to post one on the web that I could find. Almost a lost bit of history.
Carroll’s came to mind yesterday as Sal and I were starting our Sunday walk. Near the house is Beaver creek, a fairly steady creek that flows into lake Talavana. We walked down into the small floodplain, under river birch arches and over to the white sand creek. I looked down and said, “No Beavers and No Creek”. Beaver creek was dry as a bone in the sun. Not even a puddle. We talked a minute about the disastrously low rainfall and the fire potential. None of the branches of Beaver creek were flowing, and only a few had so much as a puddle. Not good for wildlife.
Later that day we noticed a black rat snake coming from one of our small fish ponds, and for some time we have been seeing water snakes hanging around and in the ponds. Click! It seems we have one of the very few places with water where critters can get a drink.
Last week I ran into a guy in Texas who keeps a sharpened hoe by his door to kill snakes. My feeling is they were here first, and if they can get by with a little help from their friends, good. Rainbow Rise, our place, is a “No Kill” zone. And an oasis as well, it seems.

Imagae: www. nokillmovie.com

Two of a few references for “Carroll’s Tea Room”.
When Objects Talk: Solving a Crime With Science (Discovery) by Mark P., Jr. Friedlander and Terry M. Phillips (Sep 2001)
e Architecture of Jefferson Country: Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia by K. Edward Lay (Jan 22, 2000)