This week I'm just rambling, thinking about the trip back home
to western North Carolina in about three weeks or so. As a child, I
would sit on the edge of a huge field listening to the breeze blow
through the poplars, oaks, beech, and evergreen trees on the old
Jarvis farm--a gentle whisper undulating across the hollow
announcing its arrival with a rustle of leaves high above.
I sit now thinking of the little springhouse where our neighbor,
Odie would store her canned goods, smoked meats and fresh milk.
This was a cool respite from the summer heat, a bit below ground,
with water flowing constantly from an artesian well through the
trough and storage bins made into the concrete floor. There it
drained with a tiny constant splash out of the other side into the
small stream that defined our neighborhood of houses on a little
dirt road.
In the heat of the day, when tired from chasing frogs,
salamanders or crayfish (crawdads), my buddy Kevin and I would duck
into the spring house, cool off with a sip of water from the tin
cup hanging on the wall, enjoy the shade and strategize our next
"foray into the wild." We would marvel at the variety of color on
the salamanders (I later found out that southern Appalachia is
known for its many species of salamander), be cautious when
catching and releasing the crayfish, and never were successful at
anything more than spotting the frogs. They were simply too
quick and amphibious for us land-based mammals!
One summer day, we found what we thought was some sort of
monster. Kevin and I had never seen one of these before and we were
directly on the heels of a Big Foot hunt (this was during the Big
Foot craze when we were kids), so we were already on edge, having
convinced ourselves that we had a Sasquatch on the mountain behind
our homes. Since the Sasquatch was already in residence, why
couldn't another heinous creature be lurking about in our
woods?
Well, Kevin and I were walking along the creek and all of a
sudden, from a small pool, we heard this "splash, splash" from the
water and little clicking (barking?) sounds from the water. We look
over the edge and lo and behold, we spy a legitimate, dare I say
"bonafied" water monster!!!! This thing had to be two feet long,
with legs and a huge tail! It had huge feathery things flapping
behind its head! It was either a baby Loch Ness Monster in its
spawning grounds (obviously) or a humongous tadpole, which would
eventually grow into a giant frog and starting eating everything in
sight! After reeling in our excitement, we watched for a bit, not
sure if it would attack or if it was happy with its aquatic kingdom
and was only warning us to stay away.
We decided to hop into the water and see what would happen (we
weren't very smart back then). By the time we had taken off our
shoes and positioned ourselves on both ends of the small pond that
was only about 12 feet long, the mud puppy decided it had had
enough and, with a bolt, disappeared under the overhang of the
stream bank, never to be seen again! This was in the "pre-cell
phone camera" era, ahem, so unless we had an instant camera or
lugged around my older sister's camera (tried that, she didn't
appreciate a dirt covered camera), we had NO WAY of proving that
this creature existed!
We couldn't wait to get home and tell Dad all about this new
creature...dare we say...monster!?!...that inhabited our little
stream! Should we tell the neighbors? Should we have the Forest
Service come out to collect and study this heinous
creature?
Well, once we described it to Dad and the noise it made, he
said, "Oh! That's a just a Mud Puppy! It won't hurt you and you
boys had better leave it alone." Well, leave it to Dad to hose up a
good monster hunt with the facts and lack of danger! This creature
turned out to be a Necturus Maculosus or Common Mudpuppy, based upon the habitat range
in western North Carolina. Now, these guys are called Mud Puppies
because they make a barking sound, hence folks giving them that
name. They are considered a very large salamander, looking like a
giant tadpole. They eat small minnows, crayfish, tadpoles, etc.,
and are a good indicator of a healthy ecosystem.
So, while enjoying the 'present' is the way to be, a trip back
to childhood adventures is not so bad every once in a while also!
Time to get back to studying, polish up presentations, prep for
exams, and finish the trimester strong for both patients (present
and future) and grades alike!