Retro? Nah...

These are pictures from 6 or 7 years ago.

I was getting a spot ready for planting garlic in September when I dug these little critters straight up out of the ground.

Great Plains Narrow Mouthed Frog (Gastrophryne olivacea)

This is a young narrow mouthed frog, and I say "young" because it was maybe 1/2 an inch in length. I've seen a few that were bigger, but these guys are usually on the small side. It amazed me that it came out of the dry, dusty soil looking like it had swam out of the water! They're not uncommon in Kansas, yet few people see them, mainly because of their nocturnal habits. Oddly, most of the sites on the internets call this animal a toad, but I'll stick by my trusty Audubon Society Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians.

Ringneck Snake (Diadophis punctatus)

This little guy was a hatchling, being only 4-5 inches in length. This one is a result of implantation of a few adults into my back yard many years ago.

Lovely plumage!

Louis Vieux Elm Vandalized (For the Last Time)

It was once the largest American Elm in the world, and now thanks to vandals the remains of this giant are no more.

Jeremy told me about this magnificent tree he'd discovered while attending KSU in the early 00's. It was more than 300 years old and stood 100 feet tall with a canopy that spread nearly that far. Some years ago it was damaged by lightning, then in 1998 a couple of morons blew it up with a pipe bomb which eventually caused its death. Thankfully they were caught, and sadly their "punishment" was a few hours of community service. Tuesday it was discovered that over the weekend (most likely) someone had torched the stump, leaving only a pile of ashes beneath the arbor which was recently built to protect it.



I've heard someone at KSU had saved some of the branches of the tree after it was bombed, which were then cloned, ensuring this gargantuan tree would live on in a much smaller version(s). What would be fantastic is if someone at the University would plant one or more of the clones in this vicinity.

Does anyone out there have a good picture of the actual tree? I found a few on the internets but they are tiny as well as blurry. If you do, and could send them to us at stevelafrench at gmail dot com it would be greatly appreciated!

Holy Drought

So I thought we were going to catch sum biggun's this summer while camping along Kansas' many scenic rivers and lakes?!?! Nope. Well to be fair, I have gone out some but not half as much as last summer. This drought/ heat wave totally sucks. I've only caught about 20 fish this year (thankfully I went to a secret spot last week and caught 6 of those then)! Also, for once, I can honestly say I don't want to camp because it's too hot! I normally never "wimp out".

I thought I would look up just how bad the drought is around here. Right now Sedgwick County's western half is rated "Severe" and the eastern half is rated "Extreme". The only rating higher than that is "Exceptional". This is followed by DEATH haha!

Kansas Drought Monitor

US Drought Monitor

Hopefully it will cool down soon. The only thing that seems to be loving this heat is my sunflowers. The tallest one is about 13'6"!!!

Son, that's a big fish! (part 2)

My brother sent me this info a few days ago and I thought I'd share it with all you fishermen and women out there:

80 lb Flathead at El Dorado Lake

I would think the biologists would have had more sense than to pull a flattie that size out of the water and pose for multiple pictures with it, as it had to have been extremely stressful for such a huge fish.

It's a big flattie and I've seen my share of them, though maybe not quite that big! One morning at Chase county Jer and I saw a huge flathead lazily swimming in a few feet of water in the small creek that feeds into the lake. I had my pole in my hands, (my fishing pole, heh) and looked at the fish, looked at my rod and the 8 pound test on the crappy plastic WalMart Diawa reel and quickly decided it would be futile to even attempt to cast out to it.

An interesting tale about the world record flathead mentioned in the article. A relative who knows the guy who was fishing with the man who supposedly caught it at Elk City lake told him the true story was different than the one told to the public. He claims the flathead had grabbed a 10 or 12 pound carp that had became lodged in the fish's mouth which prevented it from breathing. In other words... the big fish was dying. The man saw the fish, dropped his rod, grabbed the fish and dragged it up into the rocks where he then stuck the crappie jig in its mouth and contacted a warden. This makes more sense to me than the tall tale told to the world, that he was crappie fishing with a Zebco 33 reel with 12 lb test, hooked this behemoth and fought it for 15 minutes before finally getting it on the bank. Pfffttt. Yeah, like that's gonna happen.

So anyway, how did I get so off topic?

Bottom line, big flats are everywhere in the eastern half of the state, not just at El Dorado lake. They are eating machines and grow quickly into huge fish, gaining as much as 10 lbs in a season. If it'd ever cool off and rain we might even catch a few!

MORELS!

Morchella Esculenta

Well, this is the year I finally get around to looking for morels. I've planned on doing it forever and simply never got around to it, or started way too late. It's still a week or so until they start coming up, and after reading multitudes of mushroom sites and viewing a plethora of youtube videos, I think I'm finally ready!

My mother grew up near Coffeyville, and has often talked about finding them near a creek on her Aunt's land. I remember going there and looking for them with my family as a child, and then being distracted by an old bottle dump and chasing after skinks scampering through the leaves. I don't recall ever seeing one there, though I've seen them a few times since. Unfortunately, I had no idea exactly what they were so I didn't bother to pick them!

Unlike many other edible mushrooms, no one has yet figured out a way to raise them, so all the morels available are wild picked. I've always heard it's difficult to find them for sale, as well as knowing that even if you do find them, they can be ridiculously expensive. Out of curiosity, I looked on Craigslist a few days ago and there were three people taking orders for them, at a mere $30-$40 per pound! (I'll find my own, thank you!)

For all the information on hunting or cooking morels you might possibly need, check out this excellent site:

Morel Mushroom info

I'll post pictures of our finds when they're available. To anyone else out there looking for morels, good luck!

Darters!

A few pictures of Etheostoma spectabile... or more commonly known to the rest of us average dorks out here in Stickland, The vonderous Orangethroat Darter.








Most people aren't aware these beautiful creatures even exist, though in the creeks and rivers of the flint hills they are incredibly common. They will "dart" under rocks when disturbed and then will cautiously come out to survey the situation. It's hard to believe these comical little characters are in the same family as Walleye and Perch, they're so tiny. The male in the pictures may be the largest I've ever seen, very close to 3 inches long. I'd liked to have gotten a few pictures of Slenderheads or a Freckled Madtom but we didn't see any. Maybe next time!

Big Basin Prairie Preserve & St. Jacob's Well

Our last stop on this trip was Big Basin Prairie Preserve and Saint Jacob's Well... This is a really wonderful and worthwhile trip in itself, but adding Clark and going through the hills is an excellent addition. If you go in spring or early summer you can catch miles of green prairie along with colorful wildflowers. It's a beautiful wildlife area! We didn't spot any bison roaming around out here this time, so I was happy we got to see some earlier in the trip. I actually had to drive past a young bull on the road the day before, which was a bit nerve racking for about a minute!

I'd like to bring my telescope out here on a clear night

Looking out on the Big Basin

Small flora growing on the rocky bluffs

St. Jacob's Well lies nestled in the Little Basin

Grasses, shrubs and flowers warm the path to the well

Barbed post rock fencing keep the bison out of the water

A partial view from the Living Water Monument

(left) Still missing the plaque! (right) Windmills water the bison herd

For more information on Big Basin and St. Jacob's Well Visit:
Natural Kansas
The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks
Kansas Photo Tour

Clark State Fishing Lake

Camped out here after going through the hills. Clark is a really nice lake! Clear water, tall bluffs, awesome scenery... Curtis said it was like Chase on steroids! We didn't do much fishing, but an old timer showed up and was bringing in 2lb channels after each cast. I told Curtis I was almost embarrassed to fish next to him! He knew what he was doing. Really, I was just too worn out from the heat, it must have been 110° with little to no shade. I had a really good time and hope to get out there a lot more in the future.

I really admire how the KDWP utilizes native stone on most park signs

Looking south from the north end

Going around the lake and facing east

South end, near the spillway

On the southwest edge looking east


Same as above, with a bit of zoom




Clark State Fishing Lake is worth the drive!

Woodson County, Kansas

A few pictures taken in June...

What a great time to be at the lake!

...Through the Woods

Black Widow

I stumbled onto this deadly beauty while spraying weeds in my backyard. She was living in the housing for my inground swimming pool cover. Lucky for me, this is only the 3rd Black Widow (Latrodectus mactans) spider I have ever found. Although rare, we do get these in Kansas. She is quite large, I would say maybe 1.5 inches in diameter. I'll try to snap some better photos after she warms up to her new environment.

And here, my prize, the Black Widow.
Isn't she lovely?...
And so deadly.
Her kiss is fifteen times as poisonous as that of the rattlesnake.
You see her venom is highly neurotoxic,
which is to say that it attacks
the central nervous system causing intense pain,
profuse sweating, difficulty in breathing,
loss of consciousness, violent
convulsions and, finally...
Death.

(lyric excerpt taken from Alice Cooper - The Black Widow)

It's That Time of Year (almost)

Several years ago I read a fascinating book about Charles H. Wilber, the Louisiana man who holds the world record for growing tomatoes. I was impressed with the amazing story of his life, his skills as a gardener, and in particular his ability to produce 1,368 pounds of organically grown tomatoes from only four plants! I used my own version of his methods for several years and grew plants that were eight to ten feet tall and produced so many tomatoes I was having trouble finding enough people to give them to! If you're a gardener or just interested in a very entertaining read, I'd highly recommend this book.

It may be a little early for this, but WTF. I saw these healthy plants at the local grocery store yesterday and just had to buy them. I've got Wall 'O Waters to keep them warm for the next month, so unless we have a late spring blizzard in the next few weeks they should be OK.

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I'll keep everyone updated on how well these do in the weeks and months to come, and will surely post pictures of the BLT's D and I (and Jer!!!!) will be gnawing on later this summer.

Armadillo-Brillo

Saw this little guy a few weeks ago while looking for points at Fall River. I was pretty much ignored until he caught me sneaking up on him while attempting to get a decent picture, and then he started running towards the creek while exhaling loudly and frequently. After a few minutes of solace he decided to come back into the field, and then proceeded to continue digging for insects.

Chautauqua Hills Yummies

Derek and I hiked on the eastern shore of Toronto last winter and encountered all these strange, lovely galls growing on the underside of the blackjack oak tree leaves.

The Gall Wasps lay eggs on the oak leaves and secrete a chemical which causes the leaf to form a spherical shell around the larva, protecting it until it eventually matures and chews its way out.

More information here, at one of my all-time favorite websites:

What's That Bug?