BUBBA likes Fish

by Norm E Jones
(Harford county Maryland)

I live in a Trailor park on a 50x100 foot lot, been here about 22 years in North East Maryland. I hand dug 3 ponds, 2 small with store bought pre fab plastic liners & a larger one with a Neopreen flexable mat liner, Its Kidney shaped & measures approx 9x13 feet x28"s deep.Its been in now about 10-13 years. We started this project so that we could enjoy nature at its finest while sitting on the deck,been complimented by numerous that our property dont even look like a mobile home in a park. We started out with the pumps & gadgets to run water falls and keep it Oxigenated. Over time,I done away with the pumps & gadgets & let it become natural, one with nature.Everything in & around it was free with the exception of the liner . The lilly's I got out of a larger pond along the side of the road & dont think that you can just grab the flower & pull it up, it dont work that way, you actually have to run your hand down along the stem to the Tubular root & dig it out with your fingers, sort of a freaky experience when you dont know what lurks benieth.The other plants we got from friends.The many flagstone that lines the outter edges & large gold fish the wife got off of a site called Free Cycle where people advertise things for free here in Maryland,the frogs came naturally.
Now for BUBBA, this frog has been around now for about 5 years & has gotten Huge, one of the pre fabs developed a crack in it & my 13 year old daughter & I moved all the babby fish about 30 out of it & put them in with the Larger goldies of about 12 to start with. This spring,I noticed we only had about 6 babbies & 9 big fish.I went out the other morning on the deck only to discover BUBBA setting there with one of our large gold fish in its mouth this fish was approx. 5 1/2-6"s long & he had about 1/4 of it head first in its mouth,realizeing now where all my fish had been going over the course of the Winter.And to think all along I thought that it was a Hawk or a wondering cat getting them or maybe even a snake to which just last week I rescued one of our smaller frogs out of his mouth he was about 3 1/2 feet long & he had the frogs entire right leg in his mouth,I dont kill anything.Their GOD's creatures doing what comes naturally.I seen the frog wasnt injured & I carried the snake out to the woods & let him go. Dont know what kind he was.I have pics of all this traumatic activity but Im one of those whom is computer illiterate,Boy I wish that I could share them with you all that love Natures finest you would be astounded . Im somewhat an Amature Photographer with thousands of pics of Nature. I dont own an expensive camera with high powered zooms,I use an Olympus Stylus830 that the wife had got for me a couple of Christmases ago & I love it of course I had to get the upgraded memory card that holds approx 1300 pics providing that how much videoing you've done with it & I learned that when you go to Digital zoom for close ups your going to need a sound stable foundation,porch rail,rock,steady leg of something of the sort.As for BUBBA he dont know it yet but as soon as I can catch the eludeing rascal hes takeing a road trip.