Not just footprints...

Last week I wrote about seeing danta tracks. Well last Monday, Kevin was standing by the kitchen sink, looking out the window. He was waiting for one of our workers to walk down the driveway at the end of his daily shift. All of a sudden Kevin shouts "Danta!! Get your camera... hurry!" I scrambled to my feet, looking for my camera (it never seems to be ready at hand in such crucial moments). I finally located it and ran out the door. I ran up the driveway trying to catch up to Kevin who had gone up ahead of me. I reached Kevin just in time to see the danta scamper up the hill in the pasture. All I saw was her shiny, black rear end. She was big!! It was so exciting. I started snapping pictures, but my lens doesn't zoom in enough, so I'm stuck with this black blob in the middle of the frame. I won't win any photography contest, but I feel obliged to at least show some proof of our sighting. I'm sure my heart skipped a beat with all the excitement.

The nutria (otter) is back... and if there's one, there's usually a whole family. Otters are greedy and can clean out a trout pond in no time. All our ponds are protected by electric fences except for two (except one rarely has any fish). As our trout business has grown, we've needed to expand and use more ponds. The casita pond (directly in front of the guesthouse) usually contains the largest sized trout (about 1 kilo). The nutria usually prefers the smaller fish... easier to catch and eat. Since it's best not to take any chances, Kevin decided to install an electric fence around this pond as well. It took him about two and a half hours to cut the wood pieces, measure the metal wire, dig a hole to hold the pole in place, connect the terminal that releases the electrical pulse to a long cable from the carport to a tree, and down the pole. To keep everything dry during the rainy season, Kevin added a metal cover over the electrical cable, which is wrapped around the metal wire to create conductivity. All the electrical cables are out of the way so no one trips over them. He did a great job and we haven't lost any trout.