After the Rains

It has been raining hard the last few days and the sun was shining bright on the drive home. Then about 5 miles from home the sun disappeared behind the dark gray bank of clouds. Now the half moon is out; a ring is scribed around it and a planet shines next to it. The air is still and cool. There is a fire burning in the wood stove.

We are in the process of buying a new wood stove. This one is a Fisher and is old. Some say the ones with the knobs on front, like ours, are 20-25 years old. They put out a lot of particulates into the air especially compared to the new ones. One site says the old stove we have puts out 50-60 grams/hr. One of the new stoves we are looking at puts out 1.9 grams/hr. Where the older ones might be 20-40% efficient... the new ones are close to 75- 80%. At the same time we will have to pay between $1500- 2000 for one to cover our size house. As much as we want to be environmentally sound it is quite a price to shell out. We looked at solar. It actually pays out over time, but it is the initial cash outlay that's daunting. More dilemmas. I know we will wind up buying a new stove because we both love wood fires and the radiant heat. Plus, when I walk outside on a night like tonight the air is cool and tinted with the smell of wood smoke.

On a walk around the property the other day I noticed the little pond in the creek has water in it and as I was walking along the path I watched a stick move all on its own. There is a Buddhist story about a man walking along a path in the dusk and seeing a snake. The man got scared and tried to think of all different ways to get around the snake. Seeing that there was no other way, he crept slowly up to it and around it. When he was really close he saw that it was a stick. Our minds see what they anticipate seeing. For me that moving stick soon turned into a Rough Skinned Newt (T. granulosa).



This amphibian has a toxin that deters predation. They say that 1/30th of the toxin in a skin of these newts is enough to kill a healthy human adult... but it has to be ingested. Maybe they should carry a warning like McDonalds coffee: Do not swallow this amphibian it may be hazardous to your health. Some people do react to touch and contract a little dermatitis. Probably more likely is the newt is damaged from handling from a human. The oils on our hands can damage their coating. The only known predator are toxin-resistant garter snakes.


The paper birch leaves are scattered on the ground and soon they will all be gone. It is the time of hibernation as the colors fade into the soil and the land is sketched in shades of brown, gray, and green. For now the spots of yellow leaves are pretty.