Building a Place for Your Future

“Build it, and he will come.” It’s one of those lines that went above and beyond the movie it was from. (“Let it go” is another, but we’ll save that for a future post.)

I just wanted to watch birds outside my dining room window, so I put birdseed out. A few birds became regulars. One hot day last year, I put water on the porch in the lid from a large peanut container. The birds loved it. The squirrel came on extra-hot days. A feral cat drank from it once in a while. The one toad sat in it occasionally. I tried putting a big bowl of water out, because I think it’s cute when birds splash around in bird baths or puddles – but there were no takers, so I brought it back in.

This year, after multiple toads started lining up to take turns soaking in the little dish of water, I finally found a wide, flat casserole lid that would hold about one-half inch of water across its length. So now it’s the toads’ hot tub by night and the birds’ water dish by day. (I do clean it frequently — just in case you’re worried about the birds and the toad-butt flavored water!)

The toads have a soak in the evening before they go hunting. Three others were nearby.

The birds still wouldn’t “bathe” in it though. A few days ago I impulse-bought an actual bird bath with a solar-powered fountain. No takers on that yet, but finally, today, a baby sparrow splashed in the porch dish.

If you want something, build and prepare for it, and then wait. Just focus on enjoying what you do have in the meantime.

I Am Pro-Reptile

My brother loved snakes. My mother was terrified of them. I guess I could have gone either way, but because my brother caught snakes and let me hold them when I was – I don’t know, maybe five years old? I was not afraid of them.

As an adult, I am extremely cautious with snakes because I have never learned to properly identify the venomous ones. There are lots of “tips” to identify them, but also exceptions to each one, so I just don’t pick up snakes unless I’ve got an expert with me. I’ve learned over the years how important snakes and other reptiles are to the balance of nature, and I’m trying to find ways to keep our city lawn wildlife-friendly.

In my novel, Eliana-Who-Sees-Us (which I just sent back to the editor last night), Eliana sees demons clinging to people – whispering to them or otherwise trying to influence their behavior. The demons look like reptiles or frogs to her (okay, yes, frogs are amphibians). They usually look like “weird lizards” or have a froglike mouth, and there is one with a dragonlike body. That last one originally had a “humanish head,” but I decided that was too creepy so I changed it.

I don’t want people to think that reptiles are evil though. So here are a couple photos of me from this past weekend, interacting with nature’s reptilian side. The big gator sighting was a funny story — he was lying next to the path and we debated whether we should get that close, but we needed to go down that trail. I was not happy about it, and was last in line. He started moving before I got across, so I just turned and walked the other way. He simply crossed the path and went into the water.

Touching a baby alligator at Brazos Bend State Park.
Gator on path with me at a respectful distance. Thank you to Anna Luckenbach for the photo.

Toad Tally

I was concerned about whether the toads in our yard survived February’s freezing weather. Last year, I would often see one peering out from the mouth of its tunnel under the back porch. I was actually checking for ants when I lifted the splash block by the porch and was startled to see two small toads huddled there. Ranjan found one roaming in the yard later. I tried to get a photo yesterday, but (surprise again!) when I lifted the splash block, there was a small snake instead. Now I have to keep looking for the toads to see if they outran the snake.