No, I’m not missing the apostrophe. I’m talking eastern newts here, Notophthalmus viridescens. They were doing it in the local watering hole this afternoon. Well, that’s what the male was hoping for, at any rate. The missus hadn’t made up her mind yet. Still wooing her, the male was strapped to her back, all four limbs locking each of hers. Apparently, the agreed-upon strategy is that he rubs her head with his chin. If she raises her head, she’s good to go. If not, he’s just gonna have to wait. In this case, she wasn’t ready, and he was hearing none of it. Every ten seconds or so, the male – who was noticeably smaller than her – would vigorously wrench his tail from side to side, one, two, three – hard enough to drag her whole body back and forth. “Pleasebabypleasebaby pleasebabybabyplease?” Then he’d rest for a little while before having another go at her.
Guess who didn’t have her camera with her?
Well, in my defense, I was on a run at the time. Well, sort of a run. I was at the gym yesterday and for the first time in a while, I devoted most of the weightlifting to my legs. This afternoon, a variety of heretofore uncomplaining muscles let me know in no uncertain terms that if I proceeded with today’s run, they wouldn’t be accompanying me on this weekend’s long run. “When you put it that way, my dearest gams, how can I do other but accede?” said I, and proceeded to walk home. One minute and four seconds into my run. So Be It.
Tomorrow is another day, as they say. So to tide us both over, here’s a quick vid of ice melting. Oh yeah, baby.
Your efts, the efts of my childhood, are sweeter than ours--but I think you'd enjoy our big ol' roughskinned newts. The mating balls are rolling as we speak. Quite a sight. I'm thinking about salamanders a lot lately and got two blog posts out of it, too--coming up. Well, who could help but be inspired?
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