Saving a life!
I enjoy reading Sonnet's posts and they encouraged me to write this:
I just returned from a walk in the autumn sunshine. It is now brisk and cool but the sun still remains warm and bright.
I usually take a regular walk these days, before winter sets in. Some of my walk is along the top of a soil berm (a mound or bank of earth) . A decade ago there was a bad flood here. It washed down from the mountains and flooded many homes and businesses but, more importantly, it flooded the oil-refinery, doing a great deal of damage. At that time all the services for the refinery had been installed at ground-level. There had been no consideration taken for the possibility of a flood since this place has an arid, desert climate. Electrical boxes, pumps, valves, in fact everything mounted upon the ground was submerged under water causing the shutdown of the refinery for many months and a huge loss of production. Since then measures have been taken to reduce, if not eliminate, any damage when the next flood comes, as it is sure to do. Soil from excavations during construction as well as solid industrial waste such as concrete and brick from demolitions of old buildings and road construction are now trucked to the south side of the city, the side facing the mountains, dumped and formed into a high but level berm that runs across the whole of the south side of our little city. It will divert around the city any flood waters that rush out of the mountains and across the flat desert towards the city and refinery as well as protecting
the newly built ethylene complex. The complex actually has a second berm around its south side to divert any waters away from it that just may have escaped the main berm.
The top of this mound of soil now has a paved trail for hikers and those who walk for exercise. The view of the snow-capped mountains and brown desert flatlands is especially nice from atop the berm. A mains-pressure irrigation system was
installed to irrigate the grass and shrubs and trees that have been planted along the pathway.
Now, at last to my life-saving actions.
The irrigation system is controlled by valves set below ground-level for the buried water piping. These valves are set inside short vertical plastic pipes, length about 2 feet deep (50 cms), to keep the soil from sinking around and covering the valve handles.The open ends of these pipes are mostly flush with the ground. Any passing small animal like a mouse, frog or snake could easily fall into this pipe hole and the hole would become its grave site. The slippery-smooth sides of the wall make it impossible for anything to climb out and escape a slow and
lingering death. As I was strolling along, from time to time I would peer down
into a valve opening just for curiosity. All I ever see is the valve in the dark at the bottom of the hole and sometimes water, grass , mud or stones. By chance I stopped to peer into the darkness of a hole and there, cold, wet and possibly hungry sat a lonely and sad toad. The sun never shines into the depths of any hole and this green and brown-spotted fellow was cold. I got down on my knees
and reached far down, my arm being just long enough to reach him (or her) and I
lifted it out. There was no feeble struggle, just a slow blinking of great yellow eyes.
I found a damp low spot under newly planted shrubs and deposited it there where,
hopefully tomorrow's sunshine will activate it and s/he will soon prepare for the coming winter's cold.
I felt very good about this life-saving venture. I looked into a hundred holes
throughout the rest of my two hour walk and did find one poor creature that had
not been able to escape its doom, a little grey mouse.
Now my walks have an additional reason, no longer just for exercise but perhaps
I am on a life-saving mission too!
David
PS: Can anyone tell us what a toad does to live through the winter?
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