Mourning the Passing of an Innocent, Part One

Dear Fellow Earthlings,

The main reason why I have invested so much time. money, and effort in Reltonia is the rough-skinned newt. When I first saw Reltonia back in 1980, the initial thing that struck me was how to the east I could see Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson as the sun rose each morning. But close behind that was the incredibly cute, large eyed amphibians roaming around on the land. Those little darlings were rough-skinned newts -- first mentioned in Installment 263, when a certain person lost his privilege for renting out the house on Reltonia when he stomped on and killed a newt up by the house. Sadly to say, I too, have now killed a newt! But it was not intentionally! As I labored in a downpour to move water-logged bales of hay more securely together to forestall erosion, I had to use all of my strength to do so, because, each waterlogged bale weighed about 65 kilograms. As I flipped one over in preparation for shoving it into place, I was horror struck when I saw the smashed imprint of a beautiful newt's body on what had been seconds before been a cozy little hiding area for the hapless creature. The irony of it all! I am now in mourning for the little creature, whose kind I am devoting myself to on a daily basis. This two-part installment is dedicated to the memory of the newt who lost his life today. I was in such a hurry to stem the flow of the rushing waters which threatened to damage the pond that I did not have sufficient time to check more carefully for the presence of newts or other precious life forms. The poor creature was crushed to death in the very place where it felt most secure. Tragic, simply tragic! At least none of the remaining newts and frogs that live in the pond were hurt -- and, in

fact, were helped by my efforts to protect -- to save that spot of Earth that constitutes their home. In the 3rd photo of today's installment you see one of the many newts that live in the pond. More about that newt will be discussed in tomorrow's installment of this 2-part blog.

Steve Walker Earthsaver and Jingles Creator

Due to unseasonably heavy rains the past two months, the ground surrounding this pond is so waterlogged!

Here is an overflow that I hurriedly inserted between bales of hay to relieve pressure on the pond while minimizing erosion.

Here we see one of the rough-skinned newts who reside in this pond. Cute, isn't it!

© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.