Yesterday was an outdoors day. We started off with a long meandering hike to capture some newly discovered trails on GPS and update digital trail maps. Man, it is dry. We're out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees, and the underlying forest floor is covered in dehydrated plants. The beaver ponds are reduced to a thin muck of algae and mud. Quite a different world after a week of 90+ temps.

The hot temps have also accelerated the algae growth in our little decorative pond. I cleaned out the filter, drained it a bit, and topped it off with fresh, cool well water.

Mine is a high tech draining system consisting of a garden hose leading to a lower spot in the lawn. Suck on the hose to get the siphon going and be careful not to inhale the first rush of flourescent green pond water. Yesterday's siphoning was my best ever. Sensing the approaching water I set the hose down just in time to see a a red spotted newt come squirting out! Alive! Jeezum.

I think it's fair to say that life would be quite different after inhaling a newt.

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