Managing Pond Scum

Schadenfreude is the pleasure we feel when witnessing the misfortune of others.  While it may seem mean-spirited, and even vindictive; if you feel guilty about the satisfaction you experience when someone else messed-up don't be too hard on yourself.  It happens.  I admit to feeling a wee bit mirthful over the president's ongoing battle with pond scum.

Anybody who has lived on a farm, had a neglected backyard pool, pond, gone fishing or otherwise been anywhere near a body of water knows that algae happens once the weather warms-up.  Where I live excess nutrient runoff can create entire dead zones in Green Bay and close beaches to swimmers.  When that happens both us and our dogs stay out of the water until the danger passes.  Hey!  What about your ponds and creek?

Good question.  All three bodies of water on our property support a wealth of diversity including aquatic plant life to animals.  There is no excess nutrient runoff in the ponds because we don't apply any.  Natural algae growth and protozoans support insects and animals on the low end of the food chain. Which, in-turn, support amphibians and reptiles and birds like cranes, ducks and herons.  I can't speak for runoff in the creek because I cannot control agricultural applications upstream or downstream; but it certainly supports bait fish and crawdads.  Speaking for myself, we use best management practices (BMPs) for riparian habitat.

Does the water on my ponds and creek look like drinking water?   Nope.  Would I drink it?  Nope.  Does it look better than the Reflecting Pool water?  Absolutely.  The biophilia is in balance.  You cannot win a fight against Ma Nature and science.

Algae blooms have long thrived in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool since it opened in 1922.  It is filled with stagnant tidal water from the Potomac River further enriched with excess nitrogen and phosphorus runoff which algae loves.  Mr. Trump's own Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will tell you that the water in the pool is unsafe for swimming, fishing or supporting aquatic life.  It is hazardous.  

The president has insisted that his $14 million renovation this spring would forever banish the cloudy, algae-infested water as a consequence of sealing the leaks, filtering the water and painting the bottom American Flag Blue.   

Following the renovations it was refilled with the same nutrient-rich tidal water (not treated city water), wildlife defecated in the pool, it is shallow, fetid and foul and warmed-up in the summer sunshine.  Summers in D.C. are sweltering and the dark blue bottom exacerbated the problem by absorbing more heat and voilà, the largest algae bloom in recent memory!

Mr. Trump wanted blue and he got green.  And lots of it. 

He looked at the algae and blamed imaginary enemies, because enemies are easier than learning.  In the last five days it seems at least five individuals have been cited, arrested or otherwise detained for poisoning or vandalizing the Reflecting Pool.  I don't believe the Reflecting Pool was sabotaged; because I haven't been witness to mug shots or the drama of  a Trumpian perp walk.  The real cause is usually the obvious; it is simply dirty water, full of food for algae, followed by hot weather and now the bottom is delaminating possibly because of shoddy installation by a no-bid contractor and/or the president's own motorcade driving across it.   

 

The president called it an attack because the real answer is too complicated for him to grasp.  Another excuse from the man who shouts at people but cannot shout science out of the water. I guess he missed the class. 

The toxic Reflecting Pool is actually a perfect metaphor for Mr. Trump; and he created it himself. He's gonna drain it, repaint it and start over.   All the while expecting a different result.

So here we are; the National Guard has been tasked with watching paint peel from behind a newly-installed chain link fence and Donald Trump may go down in history as the only US President to be outwitted by a single celled organism.

You can't make this stuff up if you tried.... 

 

Birthday Girl

Relentless flusher and retriever of pheasants, this field golden celebrated her third complete navigation of the sun today.

Nevertheless, this working girl still has enough puppy in her to unload her entire basket of toys and plush animals.  

Anyway, while mom and dad were in Milwaukee to visit friends from their decades of curling, she scored a staycation at her favorite place; Red River K-9 II.  Ran with her people, got a manicure and a shampoo and blow dry.  

And after dinner at home this evening and everyone had settled-down to watch world cup soccer, scored licking someone’s ice cream bowl.

 
Happy Birthday Ruby the Red Rocket!

Buckaroos

Right up there with raccoons whitetail deer are among the most frequently photographed animal by our network of six trail cameras. 

Within that category are girl deer; does.

Nevertheless, there are a bucks too.

And with the onset of summer they've shed their gray winter coat to show-off the ruddy red coat of summer for a few precious months.

And they're growing their 2026 set of antlers.  The velvet covering the growing antlers is a delicate membrane packed with blood vessels that deliver oxygen, nutrients and minerals such as calcium and phosphorus to the primarily bone antlers allowing them to develop at an astonishing rate.  The velvet supports one of the fastest-growing bones in the animal kingdom. 

Around here the process begins in April and continues throughout the summer.  Then, by late August or early September the adult bucks begin shedding the velvet revealing the bony antlers.  Antlers are shed the following late winter - early spring and the process begins again. 

 

Friday Music

Composed by Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison this song was first recorded by Holly and the Three Tunes in 1956 and was rerecorded in 1957 by Holly and his new band, The Crickets.  It was the second version that achieved commercial success rising to the number two position on Billboard's R&B Chart.  

With over a million US sales of the single it was certified gold by the Recording Industry of America in 1969 and inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.  As a consequence of its cultural and historical impact it was enrolled in the National Recording Registry in 2005

It's been covered by every garage band on the planet and a plethora of professional artists; including the Everly Brothers.

That'll Be The Day..... 

Q&A

Question:  Why does a dog lick his balls?

Answer:  Because he can.

Same for whitetail deer.

Follow me for more critical wildlife biology answers.....

  

 

Drone

I haven't had much of a reason to write about an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), colloquially known as a drone.  Nevertheless, they're becoming more common at outdoor events like ball games, car shows, church picnics, Kermiss and Belgian Days.  Photographing large events from a couple hundred feet is easy and still something of a novelty.  They also have practical uses in agriculture, wildfire response, search and rescue and such.

So I purchased one; basically for fun.  

It's a DJI Neo, a small drone that I will use for photography and scouting that doesn't require a pilot license.  Over the weekend the winds died-back enough for me to get some flight time under my belt.  

I previously was restricted to flying the dang thing in the house and up and down the staircase.  That's OK for figuring out the preflight checklist and the joystick controllers; but it's really an outdoor toy.

The firmware on my little drone automatically limits my altitude to 120 meters: just under 400 feet.  Because I’m a rank amateur and don’t have a pilot’s license that’s my limit.  Which is fine because the lowest-flying aircraft around here is air ambulance Eagle III which generally comes screaming over the house at about 600 to 1000 feet.  The altitude restriction is designed to keep hobbyists out of trouble.

 

Anyway, this ingenious quadcopter might be the answer to some (certainly not all) photography limitations.  One being altitude.  As the forest has grown up around the west side of the house it has become more difficult to catch an easy sunset photo.

 

No longer.

 

As a trial run I flew my drone up to max altitude and took some photos. 

 

View North

View South - Farm in center is exactly a mile distant

 

Including my first sunset.  If you look carefully there is a little band of blue on the horizon. That is Green Bay. 

 

 

I have a sliver-sized view of the water at a fraction of the price of the real estate and property taxes!

 

This mechanical, digital, aerial technology is going to be fun.  Wouldn't it be in cool to catch the northern lights at altitude?  Or view a shallow coastal shipwreck from above?  Falls colors?  And outdoor events?  I suppose if I really get sucked-into the possibilities I might just jump thru the hoops and get certified for more sophisticated flight opportunities; and naturally, spring for a larger, better-equipped aircraft.

 

Stay-tuned..... 

 

 

Leftovers

Periodically we like a good pork chop; typically bone-in for flavor.  Although a boneless loin chop works too as long as all your chops are cut thick so as to have a nice pink, juicy center.  Not like the thin chops of my youth which always seemed to be cooked to the consistency of army boots.  Anyway, grilling season is upon us and I found myself with a leftover loin chop recently along with enough leftover brown rice and frozen veggies to whip-up a batch of pork fried rice.

 

Easy directions if you follow the pics: 

 

Cooking with flame, a nonstick Calphalon wok, some olive oil and the pork along with sliced scallions (green tops reserved). 

 

Add the leftover rice and veggies and continue frying giving a stir and a flip every coupla minutes

  

When it's got some nice crispiness to it add in a couple of locally-sourced eggs and scramble

 

 

Finish with a couple splashes of Thai fish sauce for umami and serve-it-up in a bowl and garnish with sliced green scallions tops

 

Pretty good chow if you can get it

 

Pro Tip:  Since it is grilling season if you're smoking BBQ ribs now you have a way to repurpose any leftovers.