Ladies and Gentlemen and other assorted denizens of my demented psyche, I am not sure I can get to more India/Ashram blogging tonight. I spent the entire afternoon working outside, the second straight day of cleaning our 0.2mi driveway…which, during winters, it gets pretty gnarly with dropped redwood and douglas fir duff, plus there’s dirt and runoff. It’s looking much better out there now, but I am totally beat.
While I was cleaning up near the woodpile, however, I saw something really amazing.
I give you the California Giant Salamander, or Dicamptodon Ensatus. From snout to tail, this guy was about 10 inches long.
According to the online guides, it can deliver a nasty bite and when threatened makes a funny low rattling noise. This little fellow must not have felt threatened, despite my constant shifting of wood debris around it, because he just stayed still and made no noise at all. If I went away for a while, he’d find another place to hide…but eventually, I had to chase him away because I needed to shovel up all the wood bark and junk he’d made his home.
Wow that is lot of hard-work… if I am in US after hard yard ork, I would go for a swim or boat-ride on a beach with lots of lemonade, iced tea and sun tan lotion. How do you relax in India?
It would be nice to see to see the before and after pics. To avoid such bugs, I installed Screened door and screen windows at my house in India.. yes besides US, I also have built my house in Gujarat where my retired dad lives now. Screened doors/windows, air-cooler in main room and a/c in BR is needed in Gujarat to beat summer heat and bugs…
oops … email is racerola@verizon.net
For me, still here in the States, relaxing after a ton of hard work like that is likely to include a scalding hot shower, some ibuprofen, and a nice glass of wine. In India? Most likely meditation…or given we’re taking most of our DVD collection with us, perhaps to watch a movie with a nice cup of tea.
We’ll definitely be putting up screens on our windows and getting some kind of screen door for the apartment. Given the trouble I had with the mosquitoes, it’s a pure necessity. I also already bought a net to put around the bed.
As for temperature and all, our place will have A/C, but it’s really needed only during the hottest months. Penukonda (Anantapur Dist.) has a climate rather like that of New Mexico here in the States — warm, sometimes hot, with monsoon-type rains a few months out of the year.