Pohick Park

CNN announced this week that scientists from Japan have produced clones of mice that have been dead and frozen for 16 years -- a feat that could lead researchers to one day resurrect long-extinct species, such as the mammoth.

Jake immediately got to thinking, if we can bring back long dead creatures, why stop with the mammoth. Why not get really old school and bring back some dinosaurs. As a matter of fact, if we brought back a bunch of dinosaurs, we could put them all in a park so that people can come and see them. Kind of like a dinosaur zoo.

Yes, I guess someone already had that idea. In other news, writer Michael Crichton author of the best selling book Jurasic Park died this week. Is there any connection between the timing of these two events? Probably not, but it sure is coincidental.

Black Racer Snake

So, a few days ago, Molly came into the house at about 10:30 at night in a bit of a panic. She had been out picking tomatoes in the garden by flashlight. (WHO PICKS TOMATOES BY FLASHLIGHT) Anyway, she noticed that a snake had gotten twisted up and died in some garden netting. She made Jake promise to go get the dead snake out of the garden. And then she nagged him hourly for a couple of days until he finally went down to the garden to retrieve the dead snake. At first glance, Jake thought. Wow, that's a pretty big dead snake. I wonder how come he hasn't begun to decompose yet. After a minute or two of net cutting, the reason the snake hadn't begun to decompose became readily apparent. The Snake turned and looked Jake dead in the eye. As a general rule, Jake does not appreciate when dead things spring back to life. It gave him a bit of a start. Now, Jake was faced with a dilemma. How do you cut loose the big black snake without becoming a big black snake snack. (Try to say that ten times fast)

Jake enlisted Scribbles to help in the effort. She held down the snake's head while Jake carefully over the period of hour cut away the netting loop by loop from the snake. When the snake was finally freed, it rose about a foot up into the air, opened it's mouth about as wide as your hand, and attempted to eat Jake's face. So much for gratitude. The snake then quickly headed off into the brush pile behind the house.

Jake consulted a friend who is a snake expert. His friend believes that the snake is a Black Racer. Black Racer's eat lots of things and are good at keeping the rodent population down. I wish we had a few of these snakes around our house in Virginia during our war with the rodent population.

According to OutdoorAlabama.com, The Black Racer is Common statewide, but declining in many areas. A familiar diurnal species that occurs in virtually all terrestrial habitats. Most frequently encountered in open forest and forest edges, and along brushy margins of aquatic habitats.

According to the University of Georgia, Black Racers are only active during the daytime and are most active in warm weather. At night and during cool weather they take refuge in burrows or under cover such as boards or tin. Racers hunt by sight and are often observed actively foraging during the day. They are not active at night. They eat a wide variety of prey including insects, lizards, snakes, birds, rodents, and amphibians. In turn, they are preyed upon by a variety of predatory birds, mammals and snakes such as kingsnakes and larger Racers. When captured, prey are not constricted and are consumed alive. Racers are faster than most other snakes, very agile, and generally flee when approached, often climbing into small trees or shrubs. If cornered, however, they do not hesitate to bite. Although primarily terrestrial, they climb well and are occasionally observed sleeping in vegetation at night. Racers mate in the spring, and females lay up to 36 eggs in early summer. Eggs hatch in late summer or early fall.

Rascally Rabbit

There have been a number plants and vegetable missing from the Pohick garden as of late. Jake interrogates one one the likely suspects in this video.

It's not easy being....Red

Meet Mr. American Toad or Bufo americanus as his friends like to call him. Molly found this fellow stuck in a drainage pipe next to the castle. Scribbles was ready to kiss him to see if he was really a prince. We had to explain to her that turning amphibians into princes typically only works with frogs and not toads. Scribbles decided not to chance it since we really didn't need some prince hanging around the castle anyway.

What's Buggin You?

The craziest thing happened to Jake at church this week. The Pohick clan was sitting in the front row, because Jake is a creature of habit and hates change. The service started and everyone began singing one of those uplifting contemporary Christian hits. Just as the singing started, a vicious fly started circling Jake's head. Jake thought that this was quite unusual given the fact that you don't normally see many flies in January.

Jake was very disturbed by the fact that the fly wasn't bothering anyone else, but would not leave him alone. Jake began swinging wildly at the annoying insect. Everyone in church assumed that Jake, who was sitting in the first row, was really being moved by the holy spirit. This went on for some time until Molly began poking Jake in the ribs and telling him to cut it out. At about this moment, Jake who was still trying to sing, took a deep breath, and I kid you not, inhaled the fly. The fly was lodged in the back of Jake's throat. Jake turned Red, then Blue, then Purple while trying to dislodge the bug from his throat. He finally managed to dislodge the insect and spat the fly to the floor in the front of the congregation. It's amazing how uncomfortable you will feel when spitting on the floor of a church in front of 300 people.

Amazingly enough, the sermon for the day was how Jesus commanded demons to leave people's bodies. Jake thinks it's possible that the fly he swallowed might have been a demon. He is absolutely certain though that flies taste nasty and leave a terrible after-taste in your mouth. He has never been so thankful to get a cup of communion wine.

Have you ever eaten a bug on purpose or otherwise?
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Crazy Like A Fox

No, we are not saying that Jake is crazy like a fox. Everyone knows that Jake is just plain crazy.

We have occasionally seen a fox around the neighborhood during the last couple of years. Jake has tried repeatedly to snap a picture of this fellow. Unfortunately, the fox just wouldn't stand still long enough for Jake to run into the house, grab the camera and run back outside in time to snap a picture. This could be a commentary on Jake's lack of quickness, but we prefer to think that the fox was really just a little camera shy. The photo in this blog entry was taken yesterday by Jake and Molly's neighbor Mrs Hagrid. Not only is there one Fox, but apparently there are two. This may explain the abundance of missing cats in the neighborhood as of late.

Here are a few fox facts for those who are curious:

• Most foxes live 2–3 years but can survive for up to 10 years, or longer in captivity.
  
• With most species roughly the size of a domestic cat, foxes are smaller than other members of the family Canidae, such as wolves, jackals, and domestic dogs.
• Unlike many canids, foxes are usually not pack animals.
  
• Typically, they are solitary, opportunistic feeders that hunt live prey (especially rodents).
• Using a pouncing technique practiced from an early age, they are usually able to kill their prey quickly.
  
• Foxes also gather a wide variety of other foods ranging from grasshoppers to fruit and berries.

After learning that foxes find rodents especially tasty, Jake announced that he is very much in favor of them. This is of course because of the numerous rodent problems we have had.

So, what interesting wildlife have you seen in your back yard?

Squirrels

There has been no sign of the mice for a couple of weeks now. King Jake has claimed victory after a campaign in which he successfully captured and deported 10 of the rascally rodents. It is more than likely though that the mice are just taking a spring holiday somewhere. Since the mice are nowhere to be seen, one could assume that everything is peaceful in the Kingdom of Pohick. One could assume that, but one would be mistaken. There is to be no peace for King Jake.

Apparently the mice had a little chat with their friends the squirrels prior to departing for wherever mice go on holiday. Almost as soon as the mice activity subsided, the squirrels took over the role as Jake's tormentors. It is quite apparent that the squirrels have a little more game than the mice had. Their escapades started off innocently enough with a little digging in the flower beds. Jake didn't appreciate the squirrels digging up all of Princess StarrySpark's hard work, but there was no real harm done. This period of mild annoyance wouldn't last though.

Next the squirrels upped their game a little bit. They chewed holes in the lids of all of the garbage cans so that they could go in and eat the trash. This is amazing given that King Jake does not let much edible food end up in the trash. The squirrels were not content to just eat their ill gotten meals in peace though, but they began to scatter the trash all over the yard. Hmmmm... One day, as Jake was walking across the yard, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich fell out of the sky and landed at his feet. Jake has always dreamed of food falling from the sky, but alas, this was not a case divine food delivery. Jake looked up into the trees just in time to see a squirrel running away.

This is about the time that Jake's blood began to boil. After three or four days of picking up trash around the yard and he was fit to be tied. Jake being Jake then began to lash out at the squirrels. He waited until the squirrels dropped through the holes in the tops of the garbage cans and then ran over and began banging on the sides of the cans with a broom. When the squirrels attempted to escape, Jake would whack the squirrels back down into the cans just like the "Whack a Mole" game. What did this solve you ask? Nothing of course, but it made Jake laugh like a raving lunatic. It was apparent to all onlookers that the squirrels did not appreciate this particular form of amusement very much.

The squirrels next hatched a diabolical plan to get even with Jake. They chewed a hole through the screen in the kitchen, came in and helped themselves to a brand new loaf of bread. Jake was upstairs when he heard a scream from Queen Molly. Thinking that another mouse incident was in progress, he ran down to the kitchen ready to do battle. By the time he got there, Molly was wildly swinging a broom around the kitchen like a Louisville Slugger in an attempt to bash the offending squirrel. The squirrel was in no real danger as he deftly evaded all of Molly's swings. He eventually made his way back to the hole in the screen leaving a swath of destruction in the once pristine kitchen.

Jake replaced the screen. Then he replaced the plastic trash cans with metal ones. Patting himself on the back, he stated that once again, good old fashioned human ingenuity had overcome the mischievousness of the animal kingdom. He was quite mistaken.

Jake and Molly had a number of friends and family over for a formal sit down dinner. At some point during the meal, one of the guests pointed at a window in the dining room and stated, "Look at that squirrel hanging on the window screen. Isn't that cute?" It was at this moment that the squirrel while hanging from the screen emptied his bladder through the screen into the dining room. The stream from the squirrel was quite impressive. One wouldn't think a squirrel could hold quite that much. The guests were of course just a bit shocked. One doesn't expect that sort of entertainment at a formal dinner party. Queen Molly on the other hand was not just shocked, but was also enraged at this squirrel who would dare defile her dinner party. She launched herself from the other side of the room and punched the squirrel through the screen with all of her might. I'm sure the squirrel was not expecting this reaction. He laid in the yard for a long moment after landing. Jake stated for everyone to hear that the squirrel was probably dead. This was not the case though. After a moment or two, the squirrel shook his head a few times to clear the cobwebs and then ran off as if nothing had happened.

One can only imagine the grand reception this squirrel received upon his return to squirrel ville. We imagine that all of the other squirrels patted him on the back and high-fived him for his exceptional intestinal fortitude and ability to take a punch. Jake and Molly are now worried about what the squirrels will try next. That last act is mighty tough to follow. Though Jake and Molly did not appreciate the mice, they are thinking of inviting them back if they will call off their squirrel cousins.