August 31, 1999 This little frog was hidden under a bunch of leaves in the north skimmer.  I had to dump it out and root around a bit to find him (I spotted a leg peeking out from under a leaf earlier).  Weird spots, eh? August 21, 1999 Saturday morning I managed to scoop a mouse and something else out of the north end of the pool.  The "something else" turned out to be the biggest, ugliest fly-like thing I have ever had the displeasure to observe.  I wonder if it killed the mouse, or if the mouse jumped into the pool to try to escape it.  In any case, the traditional quarter is supplied for scale.  Check out cicada gallery!  I think we have a winner! August 16, 1999 I fished this beauty of a frog out of the northern skimmer.  Actually, it was sort of bobbing at the surface, but I caught it neatly in the basket on the way out.  There was a huge grasshopper in there too, but I ran out of juice in the camera at about that time, and if I started recording dead bugs I would have to work full time on this site. August 12, 1999 Finally!  Another rodent buys it in the robot.  It appears to have been a mouse - now it is a hairless carcass lying in the woods.  At least I saw it before I got it out of the bag today - not a pleasant smell, regardless. July 31, 1999 First frog of the year.  Fresh from the northern skimmer. July 30, 1999 Nothing new recently, although I did rescue a frog from the pool yesterday.  However, we've added two new ice cream flavors to the list. July 20, 1999 From the northern skimmer I extracted this little beast - the snout was quite pointy.  I think it's a vole - if anyone knows the difference, please let me know at this address: Mouse or vole?  Of course, this means I may well have classified voles as mice incorrectly in the past.  How will I ever live with myself? Latest update:  I now believe that this is a shrew!  The above address still applies, though. July 18, 1999 Well, nothing has died lately in the pool, so I have decided to take credit for actually preserving the wildlife in the vicinity.  Just compare the death counts over the years, and you will see that it is true.  Mother Nature, in a perverse attempt to thwart my efforts to have an interesting web page, is preventing animals from coming to an untimely demise in the "cement pond".  Tree huggers everywhere, rejoice! July 11, 1999 I did my little dance of joy when I realized that today's mouse was not picked up by the robot.  I got some good shots before I catapulted it into the woods (including a shot of the actual catapulting). July 9, 1999 Finally, the wait is over.  As I was about to head to work this morning, I noticed that the pool robot was stuck at the base of the stairs, as usual.  So, I thought I'd be a good doobie and give it a yank.  While I was at it, I decided to empty the filter bag, because it had picked up a lot of leaves over the last few windy and rainy days (although not as many as I would like - grrr).  As I dumped the contents of the bag into the nearby woods, I was assailed by the unmistakeable stench of decaying rodent.  Sure enough, as I looked at my feet, I saw the characteristic lump of gray fur and pink flesh that I was both dreading and yet somehow drawn to see.  Anyway, I ran in, got the camera, and le voila!  This one is a little gross.