Konza Sailor, July 2005, page 5

One afternoon in the first part of June, obstetrician Ron Marshall was out near the BVYC grounds training his dogs. He noticed a deer on the ground near the culvert pipe on the road into the club. It was a mother deer attempting to give birth to twins.

Upon closer examination Doctor Marshall discovered that both babies had died and the mother deer was very sick. He proceeded to deliver the two deer; shortly afterward the mother got up and walked off. Someone later said they had seen a dead deer in the area.

Dr Marshall said he had never delivered a deer but the process was about the same as with humans.

The Purple Martin house often looks like it is filled beyond capacity. Sometimes 30-40 martins can be seen flying around the house. Thanks again Ned. Maybe we need to think about another to accommodate all the birds who seem to like the area.

After much discussion and consternation about the guano problem that resulted from the barn swallows in the shelter a decision was finally made by the Board to try stapling netting over the beams. It wasn't that we didn't like the birds themselves (for they ate a lot of mosquitoes) but it was the perching and consequent overabundance of droppings that presented an aesthetic nuisance. It was not very appetizing for picnicking.

Bob Mullen and Net Gatewood put up the almost invisible netting at a cost of under $50 and about nine man hours. Several days later an inquisitive four and a half to five foot black snake with orange markings crawled over the top of the net to the middle of the shelter and then decided to poke its head through the net, getting caught. It was discovered alive and trying to get loose.

An hour or so later the snake was still tangled in the net so Ned gently cut the net. The snake dropped to the ground, hissed several times and slithered into the rocks beside the shelter to recover from its ordeal.

One day while watering the flower bed, as I dipped the can into the lake there was a bit of commotion inside the can and out hopped a very pretty bright green frog about the size of an apricot. He sat on the edge of the can and stayed there as I watered the flowers.

My grandson was standing on the bow of the boat and was very excited to see a large catfish (about a foot and a half) lazily sucking algae off of the mooring ball.

Now this occurs quite often but what was so amazing was that he just kept on eating even though we were very close to him. I got in the dingy and was almost eyeball to eyeball and he still didn't swim away. It seemed to be a very tame fish or a very trusting one at least. I guess we finally made enough noise and he swam away. Sailors spending the night on a keelboat will probably hear him again nibbling on the bottoms of the boat.

We both made the trip to the water three times, froggie riding on the edge of the can, jumping inside the can while it was filling, and then riding to the flowers on top of the can. I left him sitting on the can.

He hasn't been seen since.