Yesterday, I was trying to see if we had even one fish left in our poor little pond, which has dropped four or five feet due to the drought.  When I pulled the trap in, there was an enormous frog, tons of tadpoles, and a stick that was about 15 inches long.  Then the "stick"--a small moccasin--got me in the leg.  I have a bruise half the size of a football, and not even morphine helped with the pain.  Next snake I see in my pond will see the end of my old .22.

Our pond is drying up, the grass is all brown and yellow, and the dust is horrible.  Last year we get Hurricane Ike, this year we are baking with no rain.

Our pond has dropped between 2-3 feet, and it was only 5 or 6 feet deep to begin with.  So we are running a hose down to the pond to add water to it.  There are eight baby painted turtles in the pond, catfish, snails, bluegills, minnows, tadpoles, and many frogs.  If the pond dries up, where will they go?  Everyone else's ponds are drying up too.

In the Mainichi News, there is a section called WaiWai--where racy stories are run. 

Today's edition has a story called "Testicles and tentacles".  Anyone who has ever read manga or watched anime know in some of the more adult versions, tentacles are featured quite a bit.  Now I know why....

It never occurred to me that people would assault a manta in such a manner.  Or any other sea creature (a sea anemone?!).  Geez, people can be weird.