My apologies for being an unfaithful blogger this past week. I'm afraid now that Spring is here, I like to use more of my free time to be outside. Today was no exception. The weather has been spectacular this weekend. T-shirt weather under sunny skies.
Today, after church, I wanted to be outside while hubby was working on this & that so I started doing some spring cleaning yard work. There was about 2 years worth of old leaves on the spot that I wanted to make into a vegetable garden. I don't imagine that it was used as a garden last year but I wanted to clean it off. Pitch fork & rake & shovel. I piled the trailer high full of leaves, old branches & grass clippings. Even the burnt trunk of last year's Christmas tree got chucked into the back. Once I was done clearing & piling, I started to turn up the dirt, getting it ready for planting.
I asked my hubby to hook up the hose. To do so, you kind of have to climb half under the house (some weird thing that he will rectify this spring) We had jammed the space full of insulation in the coldest part of winter & as he was pulling it all out I called over to him to 'watch out for critters' because I figured there could be spiders & other such nightmares down there. (Oh yes, I am a spider wimp) But low & behold, he calls out & says "I found a critter" and he was holding this lizard thing.
Fascinated, of course I grabbed my camera. He informed me it was a salamander. And from doing a bit of a google search, it appears this little guy could likely be a Tiger Salamander. He was very smooth & soft to the touch. We figured, like most cold blooded creatures, he would be grateful to be out of the dark depths of the crawlie space & into the sun to energize & warm himself. But, I guess we giants were just too scary because he kept climbing towards anything in which he could hide under. After our curiosity was satisfied, hubby put him back down into the dungeon where he scurried away in delight. Thus ending our momentary salamander experience!
Today, after church, I wanted to be outside while hubby was working on this & that so I started doing some spring cleaning yard work. There was about 2 years worth of old leaves on the spot that I wanted to make into a vegetable garden. I don't imagine that it was used as a garden last year but I wanted to clean it off. Pitch fork & rake & shovel. I piled the trailer high full of leaves, old branches & grass clippings. Even the burnt trunk of last year's Christmas tree got chucked into the back. Once I was done clearing & piling, I started to turn up the dirt, getting it ready for planting.
I asked my hubby to hook up the hose. To do so, you kind of have to climb half under the house (some weird thing that he will rectify this spring) We had jammed the space full of insulation in the coldest part of winter & as he was pulling it all out I called over to him to 'watch out for critters' because I figured there could be spiders & other such nightmares down there. (Oh yes, I am a spider wimp) But low & behold, he calls out & says "I found a critter" and he was holding this lizard thing.
Fascinated, of course I grabbed my camera. He informed me it was a salamander. And from doing a bit of a google search, it appears this little guy could likely be a Tiger Salamander. He was very smooth & soft to the touch. We figured, like most cold blooded creatures, he would be grateful to be out of the dark depths of the crawlie space & into the sun to energize & warm himself. But, I guess we giants were just too scary because he kept climbing towards anything in which he could hide under. After our curiosity was satisfied, hubby put him back down into the dungeon where he scurried away in delight. Thus ending our momentary salamander experience!
Interesting. You're spider-squemish but salamander-loving.
ReplyDeletewhat a cute lil SALLY ... awww.. how fortunate to have this lil creature in your own back yard... here i've only seen black widows....
ReplyDeletecool pics, Beck, thanks for sharing!
He is so cute! You took really good pictures of it.
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived in our house a couple of years ago my husband was under the deck cleaning and I guess stirred up a snake that was under there and the snake crawled on top of the deck where I was. I just happen to turn around and there he was about an inch away. Scared me to death!
LGS - its strange but true - I guess the salamander doesn't creep me out like other crawlies do. I thought he was cute!
ReplyDeleteBarb - black widows would have me screeching & calling in reinforcements (like my darling husband "Spider Killer") Maybe you'll find more creatures around your new place.
Janice, he was hard to photo cuz he kept scurrying away from me but I just wanted to capture him so I would be able to look him up & see what kind he was. Snakes would also have me screeching. Don't like them one bit! That's why I hike with hiking poles. They can be turned into weapons of defense. Hee hee!