Apropos of Nothing v.15

I'd say it's time to introduce him to a gallon pot. Or perhaps he figures if he takes up the entire space, he is totally camoflauged.

Ooooh such a cute frog!

My one (invisible) frog stopped ribbiting a couple weeks ago- I'm so bummed. The pond is all stocked with plants and ready for froggie residents, but it looks like it isn't gonna happen this year.

The pots are sitting along the house over by the greenshed.

Pony, I don't think any of the frogs are ribbiting right now.

Yeah, I guess it's late in the season for singing, huh? I wonder how the yucky cold weather has effected the breeding cycle. It's almost July and it's still getting down into the 40s at night, for cryin' out loud.

We do a frog count in our area for the North American Amphibian Monitoring Project, sponsored by NOAA, I think. It involves going out one evening during each of three spring cycles, a half hour after sunset, when the temperatures are going to remain above a specified level which is different for the three cycles. I think it has to be above 40 for the first one and above 50 for the second, but I don't have the guidelines in front of me. You have to take an on-line test to demonstrate your ability to recognize and identify frog calls of the different species; my DH does that part since his ear is better, but sometimes out in the field I'll hear something he doesn't, and of course vice versa. We have ten stops along our route and we are supposed to spend five minutes at each stop. Some of the places aren't very productive, but there's one pond that often has quite a variety of frogs, including carpenter and green frogs and often southern leopard frogs. You hear them a lot in the spring, but now they're quiet. It's kind of neat to be participating in that kind of effort. We also spend a day on the beach as shorebird stewards during the spring migration, to make sure people don't disturb the red knots and ruddy turnstones that have flown nonstop from South America to feed on horseshoe crab eggs which are laid on the Delaware Bayshore beaches. We enjoy talking to people from different areas who have come to see the birds, and we also like being able to keep people and their dogs off the beach when the birds are there.

That's really cool, greenhouse_gal. :)

Did you see the plans starting up for a virtual County Fair - Terry and gang are gathering suggestions. They say to be sure to photograph your best fruits, veggies, flowers, animals, etc. to enter. This may be fun, especially after such a hot summer - check it out.

This message was edited Jun 30, 2010 9:03 PM

This message was edited Jun 30, 2010 9:04 PM

Julie, somehow I hadn't realized how long you've been hybridizing daylilies. I'm really impressed-they're beautiful. :)

Pony, (cough) I think I have a really good (cough) idea where the mimulus cardinalis is from..... Beware-it can be very adaptable and grows quite fast. Best of all it likes moist soil, and then it grows big and fast.
Good things: native, easy to pull up, will bloom a long time if you let it, will take tremendous abuse including pruning to the ground and come back and bloom again.
Bad things? Well, it's really good (and sneaky) at spreading its seed around, and it's adaptable, fast-growing, takes tremendous abuse......

GG, your frog counting and bird steward things sound like really interesting things to be involved in. How did you get involved?

stillwood, sure hope we get a hot summer. Not sure it's hit 80 around here yet.

Susybell - if I can figure out how to package it, I'll ship you a big box of HEAT. 2 days ago my min/max thermometer registered 103 - too bad we can't average out your cool and my heat and everyone be comfortable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaAVZ2yXDBo

For all you dog lovers.

GG, what a great thing to participate in. I would love to do something like that as I am an avid birder. Long long ago, I lived out there for a short time and loved Rehobeth (?) beach as a weekend getaway from the DC area. How DO you get involved with frog counts?

Goofy . . .

Sweetpea is feeling much better. She looks better too.


Forgot to mention, her sister is hiding under the blanket next to her. You can see her black tail sticking out from under the blanket.

This message was edited Jul 1, 2010 2:17 AM

Feisty is visting for a few days. She knocked a piece of packing paper off the counter today and as you can see tried to hide.

She seemed very annoyed when I "found her".

Sweet Pea is looking like a sweet pea. And Feisty is looking, well, feisty. :-)

Ahah! Well Susan, if it came from you, I still have no idea how it could have gotten up on the deck into a container, but nature works in mysterious ways. hehe. I love it, and plan on saving the seeds to grow more. I don't mind a bit if it gets too happy- I can always pull up unwanted ones. My MIL wants some too. :)

stillwood, hmm, maybe if you did a midair drop like the firefighting planes it would spread out all over and we'd all end up pleasantly warm and sunny! ;)


Pony, glad you're enjoying it! I'm not completely sure how *I* have it in some of the spots I've gotten it, either, lol, But it has not reached the level of "menace" , and it's very recognizable so it's easy to thin as needed. :) It blooms nicely in part shade, too. :)

This message was edited Jul 1, 2010 10:11 AM

susybell, send some my way, Jim

Wow - I've been away and now busy with my daughter's rapidly approaching wedding, and now not enough time to read long threads. I skimmed through this one pretty fast!

Our clients always paid for first class tickets because they assumed we would then be able to work on long flights. Sometimes we did work, but not always. British Air has great seats that turn into beds for overnight flights to London, but the best secret is the duty-free makeup counter at Heathrow. The airport has shower facilities, so we would go there and shower, then I would go to the makeup counter where I got to know the makeup artists and they would work their magic, then we would all go directly to meetings looking rested and alert. First class is great, but it's still a plane, and I wouldn't pay for it myself. It's scary when you fly the same route so often that you get to know the other passengers and flight crew. It's a parallel universe that I am glad to be rid of.

France's healthcare system is wonderful, and considered one of the best in the world. For good reason. I think that's why so many Americans retire there. I would love to live in France or Italy, but my kids would be too far away.

Pony - I would need general anesthesia to get any tatoo.

Jim, would be very glad to share some with you. I'll pot up a bunch of babies to share. Anyone else want some?

Susybelle and Sharon, re the frog survey, we also had an eagle's nest we were observing, but DH had some medical issues for a bit and decided that was too much. We are both pretty involved in environmental stuff; we have a globally endangered plant growing upstream in our river that we monitor, and back when we were trying to get the area protected we took a lot of people up the river to show them why it was so special. Anyway, one thing leads to another; you know how it is!

susybell, sure!!!! Jim

It's that time again...

*dingdingding* NEW THREAD! *dingdingding*

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1112514/