THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 23, 1995 TAG: 9508220137
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
If you asked John Cassada how his garden grew this summer, he wouldn't say silver bells and cockle shells, that's for sure.
What stands out in Cassada's mind is not growth of a botanical variety, but of a reptilian sort.
The real estate man's unusual horticulture adventure began earlier this summer when he was preparing to plant a day lily in a flower bed in his front yard at the North End. As Cassada dug, he came up with what he though was Styrofoam packing material.
When he picked up the little slightly ovate pieces, they felt like leather. He assumed they were eggs of some sort and called me wondering what kind. After reading up on it, I called him back to say I thought they were probably box turtle eggs.
``I put a cage around the area to keep the baby box turtles in when they hatched,'' Cassada recounted.
He went out every morning and afternoon to check out the area and one morning recently he saw some movement. To his shock, it wasn't box turtles.
``I looked down,'' Cassada said, ``and saw two snakes intertwined!''
He called me again although with my track record, I don't know why. With snake books in hand, we identified the black and white snakes as baby black rat snakes. Oddly enough the distinctive black and white markings are characteristic of young black snakes.
Snakes and box turtles alike will choose the soft mulch of a garden in the same way they would find leaf mold in the woods a protected place to lay eggs. The eggs are hatching this time of year, said Maurice Cullen who takes care of the Virginia Marine Science Museum reptiles.
One thing you can be sure of, Cullen said, is that any snakes that hatch from eggs will be non-poisonous. All three poisonous snakes in Virginia give live birth to their babies. If you find leathery eggs in your garden, expect to see baby box turtles, black snakes or maybe green or garter snakes before too long, and don't panic.
Meanwhile the day lily is still in its pot, Cassada said.
FIND OUT HOW ONE GOT A TAVERN LICENSE in the 17th century. It wasn't easy. It wasn't easy to understand the complicated tax system either. Issues such as these will be part of a re-enactment of a 17th century court day at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Adam Thoroughgood House.
Visitors will be asked to participate in the courtroom dramas along with actors from Living History Associates in Richmond. The cases will be taken from actual Princess Anne County court records.
Ribbons and nosegays will be for sale by the ``merchants'' who also attended court day, a festive affair in the 17th century. Admission is $2.
TWO RARE STURGEON fish have been sighted in the Lynnhaven area this summer, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In July, Andrew Wilson saw a dead sturgeon on the beach right near the Lynnhaven Inlet.
Wilson, who moved to Vienna earlier this month to operate Under the Sea, a business that takes educational programs to schools, measured it at 3 feet, 10 inches long.
Wilson called the Sturgeon Information Hotline, 1-800-448-8322, to report the find. The hotline is an effort of the fish and wildlife service's Maryland Resources Offices, which has initiated a tagging program in the Chesapeake Bay.
John ``Bear'' Rieker also called the hotline recently to say that he and his three boys saw a sturgeon leap from the water on two different occasions while they were fishing from a bank on Bow Creek off Club House Road. There's a big sink hole in the creek at that spot and the water is deep, he said.
``We saw a big fish breach out of the water,'' Rieker went on. ``It was about 4 to 5 feet long.
``I saw the whiskery things under its chin and its big white belly,'' he said.
STRANGE BIRDS: If you have lost a cockateel, it appears that one has been sighted in the area of Windy Road and Sandy Bay at Bay Lake Beach. Although the caller didn't leave a number, she said the white bird was medium size with a yellow plume, grayish wings and a long tail.
A pure white bird that looks like a sparrow has been hanging around Bernice Roberts' yard in Brittany Estates. She wonders if anyone else has seen this unusual bird, which is probably an albino.
P.S. KIDS' HANDS-ON DAY is from 9:30 a.m. to noon Thursday at the Lynnhaven House. Participants, ages 7 to 12, can learn how to make butter and wool and cotton yarn along with other Colonial crafts. The fee is $7. Reservations are required by calling 456-0351 or 481-2145.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY REID BARROW
Distinctive black and white markings are characteristic of young
black rat snakes.
by CNB