Salamanders in Colorado, Clear Skies over Texas

Our good friend Susan got back from her trip and joined us for coffee and fresh baked herb bread this morning. Among her many beautiful and interesting pictures (she’s a great photographer) was a shot of a salamander that was larger than any that I have ever imagined. In fact, as she describes it, the quarry-lake was filled with these creatures, some of which were as large as small catfish. In fact, this is what I thought at first (that the photos were of a strange type of catfish), and then she pointed out the tendrils and described feet–not like any catfish I’ve ever run across. This was somewhere near Buena Vista, Colorado in case some of you want to do some research.

While we were getting over this shock and winding down on cute pictures of chipmunks, Lydia announced that the census is not actually finished, but that there would be more meetings and work assignments. However, I doubt she will be participating because she is due to go to Alaska soon, a trip where she will be visiting a shipyard and recording the effectiveness of water jetting in reducing corrosion. It’s an ongoing passion with us…about how much national treasure we spend each year on rusted bridges, ships, and other metal structures–expenses that are usually avoidable if only a certain degree of intelligent corrosion control were implemented.

Perhaps we will get a shot at seeing the Perseid meteor shower this year. The moon is scheduled to be absent on the morning of the 12; if only we can keep this recent clear-weather trend for another week without dying of heat exposure here in south Texas. My friends in Europe have promised to text me if the shower peaks earlier since they have an opportunity to see the stream before the radiant (the constellation Perseus) rises in our eastern skies.