Simply Norma

Almost every evening, if we keep our sliding door or window open, we can hear the hum of many frogs in the pond and/or lake near our house. The song of the frogs is very calming to me — although if I were to cross paths with a frog, a not-so-little whimper might crack the little frog’s ears.

In Puerto Rico, they also have frogs but the sounds they make are quite different. The frog is called a Coqui, meaning little frog. And little they are.

Most Puerto Ricans love the sound of the co-qui as it sings at night. But when there are quite a few of them together, the sound can be very loud.

Back in 2003, the islands of Hawaii, Kauai and Oahu tried to rid itself of these frogs using citric acid because “scientists are concerned that the quarter-size frogs were eating at least some bugs that exist nowhere else on Earth, are stealing insect food from the mouths of endangered birds and could provide a ready food supply for non-native snakes.”  (Click here to read the article)

What’s a blessing to some people can be a curse to others … life.

The weather reached 102 degrees in Minneapolis yesterday. Fortunately, we have air conditioning at home although our house is cool enough that we don’t really have to use it.

In hot weather, I move slow — but not as slow as this dead turtle. I found him on a dock in Lake Jane. I’m glad we’re back to “normal” Minnesota weather today.

My new enemy in the state of Minnesota is the mosquito. Apparently they like the type of perspiration that I exude – although, quite frankly, I didn’t think I had much perspiration. But, the mosquitoes love me. I’ve had only a few bites but they have been firm about it.

I don’t remember mosquitoes being dark colored. My mind remembers them being brown growing up in Chicago.

Today, in my effort to find out more about  my enemy, I found out that the Dragonfly will eat the mosquito in all stages of its life. We have had a lot of dragonflies flitting this way and that. I never understood why. Now, I do. And I don’t feel so threatened by the mosquito anymore.

Unfortunately, this particular dragonfly got hooked on my porch screen and it took a long time for him to get off. Maybe he was just saying “hey, we’re here to help.” Awwww ….

Before we purchased our house, we requested that a septic and well test be done. The septic test failed. Apparently the septic is too close to the ground water level. The seller believes it’s because Minnesota had so much snow this winter.

Since we can’t be sure, we requested that design and bid work be done to install a new septic system as required by the city before we purchased the house. This was done and the seller gave us the money to have it done once we bought the house.

I’ve been learning a lot about septic systems. The septic system has a holding tank. The solid waste falls to the bottom of the tank and the liquids float. Apparently bacteria breaks things down. The liquid part of the waste goes out to the drain field via pipes that have small holes in them and is dispersed.

That’s it in a nutshell. I had concerns about our property smelling like, well, urine. But that’s not the case. Whewww!!

Last week, we had the work done. A huge bulldozer was brought to our property and dug up a huge hole for a 1000 gallon septic tank.

They put the septic tank inside the hole very carefully.

The septic tank has a separate pump also. That’s how it gets the waste from one place to another. Once the septic tank is in place, they cap it. Two to three years later (depending on how big the family is) you need to have someone come and pump it out.

Our new drainfield was uphill just a little. The bulldozer dug out and prepared for the new drain field. Only one tree had to be moved. There were some bushes that were taken out but the property actually looks nicer without them.

Next they made a trench, laid down pipes that have small holes in them and then added gravel to the drainfield. It looked quite elaborate.

All was covered with dirt. Now we have 2 septics, a pump and a fancy alarm in case anything should go wrong.

What more could a new homeowner ask for?

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Our yard looks so wild right now. Shrubs, trees, and flowers have not been trimmed in awhile. And I don’t know if we’ll have any time this year to do any landscaping.

While in Seattle recently, I did see a garden that is landscaped in a way that I like. It’s simple and peaceful. Makes me think of what heaven will be like.

Hopefully I’ll be able to get enough resources through the internet, books, and magazines to make my garden a tranquil place for me and others to enjoy.

We received a lovely gift in the mail – a one year pass to the Minnesota State Parks with a weather-channel radio that you crank (in case of Minnesota inclement weather). We’re not sure who sent us the gift as it came with no card although the gifter must be an MPR listener.

Today we decided to use our pass and go to the Wild River State Park in Wild River, Minnesota. The drive was beautiful as we passed many lakes and the Minnesota trees that are in full bloom. We headed straight to the Visitor Center to see what trails they had that weren’t too long or strenuous. The first sign we saw was a warning sign.

This is not the best greeting but it’s a good thing they had the warning as I haven’t been reading my camp books to know to look out for poison ivy. After picking up a pamphlet with a list of the trails, we decided to take the Amiks Pond Bluebird Trail as it seemed pretty easy(we didn’t see any bluebirds though).

The trail started very easy and soon led us to a bench where we could rest if we wanted to.

Eventually the trail turned grassy and beyond the bend we could see part of the St Croix River.

Then — the St Croix River opened up in all its splendor. The river was flowing more quickly than I thought it would.

The St Croix is a beautiful river. The trees on the other side are in the state of Wisconsin. After passing the river, we came to a road where one can rent canoes. This area had more warning signs of bears in the area and infested waters with exotic species. Okay so — maybe I don’t want to canoe in this river.

After passing this area, the pamphlet we had told us to go to an area so we could see the makings of a beaver dam so we headed that way. Most of the dam was covered though and all we could see were branches. The picture below shows the entrance to the dam (on the left).

Unfortunately, this was the demise of our interesting walk. As we headed back to the original trail, we spotted ticks on us. We quickly got them off but then something bit me on my shoulder. I quickly slapped and killed it but could not tell what it was. It left a huge bite on my left shoulder. I don’t know if it was a tick or a different type of bug. Ouch!

After this walk, I came away with my first two Minnesota mosquito bites and an unknown bug bite.

When we originally left the visitor center, I finally admitted out loud what I’ve known for years — I am not a hardcore nature fan. Actually I’m not a medium or softcore fan either. I’m a nature lover that prefers to see it all from afar. (Well, in heaven I’m sure we won’t have all the bugs trying to bite us.)

For now, I’m itchy and don’t want to see any more ticks or hear any more mosquito songs in my ear or feel them on my body.