Snake Charmer

After spending all afternoon in setting a surface net on my pond, I had a feelings that is not going to be easy. The snake already had two easy meal here, he is definitely coming back, I just wish he could eat some frogs rather than my fish.

This morning I walked out to have my coffee, sure enough "look who's there?", that goldfish killer snake was posing on top of my net with its head held high. Obviously he is treating this pond his home already, my fish were all frightened and hiding at the bottom, let's hope the net would make it difficult for him to hunt then he'd go somewhere to get some frogs instead!

I feel I protected the fish last night when I was sleeping, knowing that the snake could not get in unless he finds a loose edge of the net (screen enclosure). This thought was confirmed once I saw him on top of the net and the surface of the water this morning. He gained access through the rocks on the side, snakes do not walk in the middle of the road, they always walk against the wall or the edge of something. When I confronted him again with a garden clamp this morning, he quickly retreat through the side of the pond's rock, so now I know his pathway.

Internet is my research helper, after reading some 20 articles, decided I should trap the snake and remove it somewhere because he has already treat my pond as his habitat. Unlikely he is going away, if he is not going away that means my goldfish is at risk all the time. I was thinking about to buy a snake trap on the internet, just browsing through different websites, it costs $30 and the successful rate is pretty high.

Then I saw it takes almost a week to get shipped, this is taking too long, perhaps I need a person who can catch this snake alive, well I don't know who to call so I called the security office.

"I'll come over now." the security guard said.
"What do you mean by coming over now? Are you going to catch the snake by hand?" I asked.
"We have a special tool to use, we'll catch the snake at your backyard and release to the preserve area." He answered.
"Ooh! That's easy! I should have call you much earlier! I just scared the snake away for now, will definitely call you when the snake comes back again!"

Voila! Having security people around saved my life again.

Mourning

I guess I was in shocked to lose Chunky yesterday, I did not confront the water snake and he shows up again in late afternoon, just having a dip causally in my lily pond. He had Chunky in his stomach, I said to myself and I could not bear to stay there, walked away with sorrow in my eyes.

After some research on the internet, identify this snake is a non-venomous water snake. Because a very deadly water snake named 'Florida Cottonmouth' looks almost the same as this non-venomous water snake in my pond, the only difference is the pupil, the cottonmouth had viper pupil and aggressive; the common water snake has round pupil and less aggressive. Well, I did not want to get too close to a snake that I don't know if it's venomous or non-venomous, so I took a photo of him with my digital camera then enlarge the photo with a software on my computer, allowed me to take a close look at his pupil.

God has said I am the manager of the land, I only get to manage all the animals and creatures, I do not own them and I have no control over their lives whatsoever. If he decided the snake should feed on my fish, I wish that snake could eat something useful for me, such as frogs, lizards or field mice. So I do not want to kill that snake, it is actually beneficial to the garden to have a non-venomous snake to control other stuffs I don't like, just that it happens to munch on my beloved goldfish.

I woke up today at 6am and the first thing I did was to run out to the pond, sure enough I saw that snake again, it must thought this is its feeding ground, because I looked down and I don't see Baby anymore! This is the second goldfish he ate at my pond and I swear I must do something about it.

By 9:30am I was already at Lowe's looking at what could I get to protect my fish, I saw something repel snake in a granulate form but the instruction said it is poisons to the water nearby, should not use near any water source. That means I could have repel the snake but bring another hazard to my pond. I decided to net my pond with a screen like those in the screen enclosure department.

Very upset that I lost Baby to the snake, took a close look to another 3 adult goldfish still remain in the pond, they all have broken tail fin and CSI west palm determined that was from the chase under-water, and they were all scared showing signs of stress.

I spent 4 hours to move around the stones and stretch a screen-enclosure over the surface of the pond, thinking this could make it difficult for the snake to get in then he should go get other preys such as frogs. After a shower, I walked out and see him resting on TOP of the net, that's it! I must confront him, I went out to use a clamp to try to pinch him and he quickly retreat.

The next step would be trapping the snake, it already had two good meals at this pond and he is definitely coming back to feed on my beloved goldfish. I must do something.

obituary

My dearest Chunky, you were about 2 years old when I have you, you have lived your life to the fullest here at my little garden pond for about 10 months. Your happy-go-lucky personality has attracted my sight at the pet store when I first met you, you stood out from a big crowd of goldfish and I know you'd be my favorite once I get you home, you were named by your appearance --- Chunky.

You were the one who always kiss my finger when I feed, never get afraid of my hand when I am changing water; you were always the first to come to greet me with your chunky head popping out from the surface of the water, you have brought me so much joy every morning when I am having my coffee by the pond, you are a very special goldfish and I am very sad to have lose you today to a predator.

If I would have go to the pond earlier this morning, you might still be alive, I blamed myself. I was up at 6am and there was I, busy about other things around the house and did not go feed you until 9am. Once I approached the pond, I noticed everyone were scared and not swimming up to me, you were not there anymore and I saw a water snake skimming on the surface of the lilies. At that time, I still hope you were just scare and hiding somewhere underneath. To a predator, you were a prey and you were the biggest to be fed on, very likely he chose you, I am very sorry.

Your legend will live on by your new-born baby - Bubble, I bless this baby with all my heart and he / she will continue your role in cheering everybody under and above water, may God rest your soul - Chunky, I love you, Amen.

Fish report

After 7 days of anti-biotic treatment in ICU, Baby (blue goldfish) obviously looks much better. The ulcer is all clear, the rotted fin will grow back in a few months if he does ok. I took a few close-up photos before I release him back to the pond with his friends.

He was getting crazy under isolation in his hospital treatment tank, he swam up and down the corner of the tank to try to find a way out. Normally, he should be quarantined for another week to observe the reaction after anti-biotic, but I think the longer I keep him in the tank; the higher the risk that he would die in stress. So I released him back to his friends in this evening, he looked immediately happier when he saw his friends all came by to say hi, but he was struggling to adjust to the water pressure, different water temperature and chemistry at the first 40 minutes.

Anyway, he would be closely monitored in the next 4 days, if anything abnormal should happen to him, he would be sent right back to the hospital again. To release him right now is to avoid further stress, the drug is already pretty strong to him, being on his own for a week was really strange to him, he is always swimming around with his friends. So hopefully this could take the stress out and he could recover slowly in the pond.

fragile

this is Baby, my little blue shubunkin goldfish. I had baby while he was small, as big as a thumb 3 years ago. He is the only one left from the original group of goldfish, the rest got eaten by raccoons or opossums, he came a year after I set up the little pond at the backyard on a thanksgiving weekend.

When I was a kid, I used to have a small tank, my elder brother always told me to throw away the fish, it costs more energy and money to treat them than buying a new one. I agreed but I can not just throw them away, this fragile little life totally rely on you, had no control of when the food is coming or how the water quality is going to be like, just totally rely on you.

However well I think I keep the pond, there are action going on when we are not around, brunch of frogs are there also increase the load of waste, birds may carry decease or parasite while bathing in the pond, squirrels from the tree top shitting into the pond....etc. We could only do so much, the rest we have no control over so we can not worry about it.

I noticed there are ulcers developed on baby's gill plate and his fin is rotting away, this is clearly a sign of bacteria infection. I had anti-bacterial remedy in the water for the last 3 weeks and it took away the ulcers for a few days, soon after it came back on other area of his body. I soon found out he needs more than just a remedy in the water.

Eventually I took him out to the Goldfish ICU on monday, these are photos I took while he checked into his hospital tank, the redness on his tail fin and gill plate is ulcer and it could be a secondary infection that he got bit by something, the skin had a tiny hole and the bacteria attacked him in those area.

I am using an anti-biotic treatment in the ICU called Minocycline, similar to humans anti-biotic Doxycycline, it would take 6 days for his treatment to end, then I would observe him to see if he is healthy enough to go back with his friends and family in the pond, if not I would have to put him to sleep with a dose of clove oil.

This is the third day after his first dosage, the ulcer is clearing up, he is swimming a little bit, hopefully he could make it!

Never a dull moment

There is a saying in chinese called "The rain doesn't stop while your roof is leaking", I find it very true especially for now. We did not know the roof has a problem until we found a small leak in the attics, once we hire a roof guy to open it up to fix it, we then found 3 more leak; then we went ahead to fix those area, found out the under-layment was no good and face board was rotted, so forth and so on everything got redone and replaced, it has been 14 days and the problem was still not solve.

Just our luck that victor decided we had to help the guy to bring in some materials, I guess I wasn't thinking, it was hot at the middle of the day, we finished from doing a lot of work and I let him shovel long logs into the car without supervision, He thought it was just fine to slam the trunk door to close everything, I did not pay attention while he was doing it, when we stepped into the car, sat down to found the other end of the log had poke at the corner of our windshield, of course it was cracked big time!

good news is insurance covered the replacement of my windshield! haha, lucky me.

However, at my pleasant surprise, we accidentally open up a greens view I never encountered. I mean I know the green is there but I had this grouping of Bamboo Palm growing in an 8 foot radius, the tree trunks have blocked most of the light coming down. This grouping of tree got a root decease and it is just a better thing to do to chop it all down. I doubted how would it look because I like those trees, but now it suddenly open up the view of the green, and when we talk around the outdoor dining area, we could see the movement of the fountain and the lake outside the fence, it is kind of nice.

So the motto of the story is we do not want to do something because we are used to something; it could be a good start if we were forced to make a decision and to make a change, change could be good if we have our arms and mind opened. Never knows what view would you get until you chop down those trees in your heart.

Critters

I always like to stay outdoor, even when I was younger, I would read outdoor and bring my homework to finish at the balcony where wind could blow through my hair, but mom did not like that idea, one time my paper was blown away from the 10th floor! And she said I was not focus enough when there are other things going on outside the balcony. Perhaps she was right, I like to look out and see what is going on outside my own little box (apartment), like a bird looking out from its cage.

Having to maintain a garden, it is a lot of work but it is what I enjoy doing. I don't do well in cleaning as far as housework is concerned, but I do cook very well and I enjoy doing garden work, hey you can't be good at everything --- that's what I told Victor, so we'd have cleaning ladies to come clean the house. ^_^

Lately we found this newcomer, a young squirrel; we named him Bill. I guess Bill is young base on the fur on his tail, it is fluffy and small though. We spotted him last week, while we were having a drink outside, sitting on the sofa, Bill went from the left side of the garden to the right, grab a piece of coconut fiber fallen from the trees and walk right in front of us back to his home on the left side of the garden. We freeze on the sofa so he won't be scared, there he walked 3 steps; stop and look around then go another 3 steps; stop and look around again.... until he reached to his home.

On the top of a Queen's Palm, there is pocket left over after we trimmed the big font. There we saw Bill laid down his pillow (the coconut fiber he just picked up from the other side), turn around to find a comfortable angle then lying down facing out. What I mean facing out is the tree has 360 degree angle, but Bill chooses a premium lot with water and golf view, I thought it is a common choice for golfers, did not know squirrel prefers it too.

We saw Bill again last night, when we were sitting out after dinner, he ventured to the right side to collect his bedding again, we freeze with a smile when he walked right in front of us. I guess the constant rain must have ruin his bed.

I remember, I remember a scripture about how God provides, he provides food for the bird even their lives is short; he dresses the flowers even the beauty only last a few days; why won't he knows what we need and provides abundantly?! Look around, resources are all around us and God has provided, it is our responsibility to find what is right for us and which pillow sleeps better! Bill said.

Localize living

Think about it, apart from our twice a year vacationing somewhere, we all live a very localize life.

I am not talking about your office is 40 miles away and you have to drive 5 days a week to work, I am saying if you are basically relaxing as a housewife like I am, or retired like my husband is; you don't travel far from what you need to live a comfortable life.

Most people live within a 15 miles radius and I couldn't agree more, I have my 4 grocery shopping stores located within 9 miles. A selected neighbourhood chinese restaurant + italian restaurant + deli + japanese restaurant within 15 miles driving, also drive 15 miles to play golf at my club, movie / home accessories / clothing / toiletry products shopping are within 20 miles range. What else do I need more? Perhaps to visit my doctor for check-up twice a year, it's about 20 miles drive and that's it.

Hong Kong has changed from a manufacturing base to a knowledge base society, I saw how it happened growing up. When everyone is working in somekind of manufacturing in the 60' to 80's, then the price of the land got very expensive and it was difficult for the factory owners to stay competitive with having a space to house 400 workers, the owners started moving their plants to Mainland China where the land was 80% cheaper and running cost is also lower because of cheaper labour cost in late 80's. Nowadays hong kong house mostly management offices, meeting facilities and sample room or service agents who can do the legwork for you to make certain kind of product.

"The environment do not adapt to you, you adapt for changes", Confucius said 2500 years ago and it still holds the truth today.

If I transfer this concept of moving the company / manufacturing plant from Hong Kong to Mainland China, to an individual home of living a comfortable lifestyle; same theory goes no matter I am moving a company or my own living environment.

It's a big bold move, but it's logical and beneficial if we find the right place; all I have to do is to look for all these restaurants again within a 15 miles driving radius!

Biological weapon

When we first moved into this house, it needed a lot of landscaping work and I introduced 'Ficus Bejamina', naked name 'weeping fig' to use as an extension hedge at the front and the backyard. I won't go that far to call myself a horticulturist, but I pay attention to what grows in where when I am outdoor.

Lately I found I am loosing leaves from the Ficus Bejamina, the top of the hedge looks fine and full, the middle and close to the tree trunk has lost almost 50% of its leaves. I know my worst nightmare have come, this pest named 'Ficus White Fly' has attacked my plants. It got this name but it is actually not a fly, it's in the family of a pest called 'Aphid', which I noticed I have it on the hibiscus at the backyard but I tried not to spray with chemical treatment as best as I can.

This time, I had to ask my landscaping company to apply a chemical solution, which I don't like but I had to. This is a very expensive insecticides costs over $130 / 5 gallon, but my landscaper said I don't need to use the whole package of it, he would apply it to the tree trunk and it should be good for 6 months to 12 months.

now after he applied the chemical, I introduced a biological weapon which is an enemy of 'Ficus White Fly', my beloved 'Lady Bug', it is actually a type of beetle which eats the eggs of the bad ones. Hopefully my biological weapon would work and save me from using chemical again.

people do strange things

people do strange things, perhaps other people viewing me as I am the one doing strange things too. I don't know, just a thought.

Yesterday I was expecting this person named 'Bill' to come and see the outdoor furniture which I listed on ebay classified, this set of teak furniture has been sitting in my garage for over 2 years. Getting rid of the set would give me a lot more space to maneuver in the garage for storing boxes in the mean time while showing the house on the market. He told me he is driving from Ocala, sent me an email at 12pm stated that he is on his way. I thought may be 3 hours to 4 hours drive would get him here, ends up he arrived at 6pm.

He is a tall guy, coming by himself with a big pick-up truck and a trailer, I would say he is over 6 foot tall, medium built but limping a little bit. I tried to avoid staring at his wound on his forehead, there are 2 round wound located at the middle of his forehead and there is still dried blood around it, obviously are new wound, and when you see a precision cut round hole in the middle of the forehead then you'd know it is a surgical cut, not by banging your head on the corner of a cabinet, he went through a brain surgery I said to myself. Victor did not know and joked with him: "What's wrong with you, fell off from a ladder?"

We opened one of the boxes, show him the set and the sturdiest arm of the chair; I immediately know it's sold even he tried to bargain me for $100 less, I told him you know it is a very honest price I listed and I won't take a dollar less, he knows I am the negotiator and keep telling victor I ran the show. The truth is if someone has to drive 4 hours to get to you with a trailer, he is not going home empty handed, as simple as that.

He dressed like a basketball player, with jersey and shorts, you'd think he is a redneck with a pick-up truck when you see him; but when he speaks, you know he is educated with good manner. He told us about his retirement home close to ocala, his wife is still working but now they have this beautiful lanai, he has to decorate it while his wife is still working in Oklahoma, that's how he came across my classified ads on ebay. We told him we bought the set 2 years ago after the tornado hit the house, but we were able to salvage the old set, this new set sits in the garage untouched.

We took him to our backyard, he loves it and he said it gave him new ideas of his own backyard; ends up he wanted the teak cushion storage box, I sold it to him for $550, then he asked me would I let him go if he is $30 short, I said ok no problem; funny thing was he reached to his pocket for the $520 and after he paid me; he dropped a $100 dollar bill on the floor then Victor and I were laughing at him.

Anyway, we all help in moving the boxes into his trailer, during the middle of the moving, I noticed he is grasping for breath and his face turned very red, I said let's stop and rest a bit, I gave him some water and we rested for about 5 minutes. I should have ask him to come inside the house where it is cooler, have him sit down to rest on a comfortable chair instead of sending him home for a long journey again.

I worried, so I told Victor to give him a call at 9:30pm, making sure he is alright. He sounds fine victor said, he said he is 1 hour away from home and feeling fine, then he told Victor he is a retired heart surgeon, it must be scary for us to see his face turned white while moving all these furniture!

we couldn't help ourselves but thinking: "Why would a heart doctor do all these things for outdoor furniture???"

so much work to do

There is so much work to do to prepare the house on the market. I thought I make a list of it would make it easier, the truth is when you start doing it, there comes the difficult part. We just fixed the leak of the spa, the coming attraction is to fix the small leak on the roof, the next thing on the agenda is to fix the wooden piece under all gutter because it was rotten away, the next thing is to tidy up the garage and paint it again, put away personal items in boxes in order to show the house better.....etc.

We just finished a big trimmed of the yard, both front and back undergo a huge hair-cut and you could see that pale of bushes in the front waiting to be collected, I am sure the town of palm beach doesn't like me already because this is the second week that I put out tons of vegetation garbage. The fact is the garden looks a bit more tidy, a bit more under-control but it is still very lush-looking. I spent the last two days trying to clean-up the outdoor, digging up dried-out plants, clearing up the insect's nest around the ceiling especially those made from wasps and spiders, cleaning up the statues that covered by algae......etc. lots of work and my elbow is hurting me now.

I could see the house is ready for party now, that is how I judge the level of showing-ready. The garage is still need some help but I have so many items in there which I could not throw away before, now that I have ebay classified, it helped me to get rid of things that I do not use and collect the money I paid for the item. For example I just sold a chest-freezer on ebay classified and an old food processor, all together for $150, I remember I paid $200 for the freezer 2 years ago and I do not need it in my garage anymore. This older couple is opening up an ice-cream parlor so they need freezer, they drove from north of orlando to my house to pick up the freezer! Could you believe people would drive such a long way to buy an item that they need if it is a good price? Today I have this gentleman coming from Ocala to buy the outdoor furniture set, it has 7 pcs all together, I purchased it 2 years ago after a tornado damaged the house, somehow I was able to salvage the old set so this set was never opened, still sitting in its boxes in my garage. It included a 3-seater sofa, 2 single seat sofa, 2 side tables, 1 ottoman and 1 main coffee table. I would rate this teak outdoor garden set has 5K of retail value, comes with Sunbrella outdoor cushion and it came from the same source of Smith & Hawkins at that time, I am selling it for $1699 only what a steal!

Local news coverage

'Hook a Kid on Golf' makes a difference to youngsters

The local news channel 5 came to the golf course to film the process of 'Hook a kid on golf' on last Wednesday, the reporter stayed there to film and interview for probably over 2 hours. Here is the report on news channel 5 at west palm beach, trimmed to about 60 seconds interview.

If you didn't see it, click on the link above to see the News Channel 5 story about our program!

Victor is constantly at the background picking on the kids! You could hardly see my back walking around when the second girl starts talking, I was wearing light green shirt, capri pants and a green bucket hat. I am very relief that my as* did not look too big on the screen, but my back is certainly huge, could use a 15 lb weight loss program......

Ah.... swear I am going on a diet once the house is sold! I found 6 more white hair on my left forehead on saturday, right after I came back from the volunteering program, obviously the kids did use some of my brain juice. Very soon I would have to go look for a hair stylist so that I could dye my hair like my mom used to do, I have always afraid this day would come, that I could not be comfortable until I visit a hair stylist, this day is getting very near. But for now, I am still pulling my white hair out!

my name is Stanley Rivera

Hello, my name is Stanley Rivera.

My master gave me a Spanish last name because people found me in the Bronx, New York, while I was wandering on the street. I had no idea how did I get there, I only remember very little things about my childhood, I know I hated orange cone which they put it on the street during road work area, I would chase that cone, bite on that cone and shake that cone until I have no energy left.

I was on the "to kill" list at the Bronx, but the people at the animal shelter put me on a test, they play video of fierce looking dogs barking and jumping at me, my reaction was to hide behind the volunteer's leg during the whole testing period. Then they decided I should not be "killed", they think I have a mellow heart.

They are very correct, I might look strong and big, but my heart is like a toddler. I enjoy to play, run on the lawn and chase birds. My favourite food is romaine lettuce and broccoli forest, every time my master throw me a piece of lettuce from the big cold box it just make me so happy. My teeth are all filed down so I don't like to chew on meat at all. My master said perhaps I was a bait dog, bait dog means they use me to train another fighting dogs, to ignite their fighting spirit to a certain extend that I might be killed and I would not have equal power to fight back because my teeth were all filed down. I do not understand why was I chosen to be a bait dog, but I was lucky that I was transferred from the Bronx to Connecticut's animal shelter to wait for adoption.

I guess my look is too scary, people do not want to understand me deeper. I was following the chairwoman of the shelter for 2 years, stay at her office while she goes to work everyday, had to stay by myself over the weekends or holidays. Luckily, one day I saw my master speaking to the chairwoman, then he took me into his SUV with the crate, I started living in his house from then on, it has been almost 4 years now.

My master got 3 daughters and 2 of them have dogs too, there was this tiny chiwahwah always pick on me, she bit me on the nose all the time, out of reflects I shook my head that time, and she was on the wall! Good news was she did not get hurt, the next day she was trying to bite on my nose again!

I think I am a lucky dog, someone rescued me and gave me another chance to live a life that I dreamed of. My master said I am a pure breed, well I do not know how to pronounce that name, something like British Bulldog Terrior ...... not so sure hey who cares.