I had a lizard living in one of my birdhouses last summer. Occassionally I would hand feed him meal worms. I miss my lizards, geckos and toads.
Fireside chat... Part 4 Dreaming of spring...
Sorry about that reverse posting of the early fall picture. LOL! I was trying to remind myself that everything would be green again one day! But most of the ice is gone now.
I miss my dragonflies but not so much the frogs. Our fish pond and a smaller water feature pond is just outside our bedroom. It gets quite noisy and starts with the first warm spring rain. After we get up to 6 or 8 singing at one time, we do a night time harvest and relocate them down at the park a few blocks away. It doesn't take but a week or so that the numbers gather again and we make another haul. I don't mind a pair or two late in the evening, but when they are singing all night long that gets a bit too much.
I used to work for a vet in Waco before my DH and I married. I loved it but as you said it was hard work. I still think about a lot of the clients and their parents, lol! We got attached to some of the animals that we saw a lot, just like the owners. As for the stray cats, they actually were from a litter that a neighbor over one street allows to roam the area. Even in this cold he won't provide them shelter and evidently not enough food either. They go our shop cat door and eat my cat's food and may sleep there too. I know they are in and out of my yard and under the decks. We have carpet on the deck at the house so it provides some protection. It has a old set of concrete stairs underneath that is a wind block too. I know they aren't real wild and would make someone a good pet, but no one looks for pets in the winter. They will have a better chance in the spring.
Lets get another fire going podster!....wish we could burn ours, needs the back wall repaired first. My toes are cold...going for that electric blanket.
Also hope none of you lost your electricity in all of this or had accidents either. Stay warm....nite!
That photo did help me warm up Sheila. "Green again" one day will be good! And I know it is not far off now! 8 ))))
Lizards, dragonflies, butterflies I miss them all. 6 or 8 frogs at one time... you should hear these woods at night after a good rain. It can be deafening but is music to our ears. The pond is about 200 yards from the house and the big boys down there just bellow to be sure they are heard over the din. How delightful! Especially when I think of all the skeeters they are dining on!
There is no warm like a fireplace. We have one at work too and although it is not our main source of heat, it is a gathering spot for the "spit and whittle" club. LOL
Wow! Got up to freezing fog this morning. 26 degrees again. Have two electric heaters going, one in the tool shed with plants, one in the 6X8 greenhouse. So far, so good. I would not saying anything is "thriving" but at least they are not dead. Ever little bit the heaters must come on at the same time because it throws the breaker. Talked to an electrician about upgrading and he wasn't very encouraging. Would cost more than it is worth. Maybe a total of 20 nights of below freezing. Just watch it and bear with it. Sun is coming out..hope it burns off the fog and ice.
Foggy and icy here too, 25 degrees outside.
Pod, my peanut butter log is an odd thing I bought from a birders supply catalog. It's actually a tree limb, with bark still on it (looks like oak) and has six holes about 1" diameter drilled all the way through it. It has a screw eye in the top for hanging it. It would be super easy to make one. I either fill it with plain extra crunchy peanut butter or sometimes a mix of peanut butter, rasins and sunflower seeds. My woodpeckers love it and I've even seen the goldfinch at it when it's only peanut butter. I buy peanuts in the shell and stuff one of the suet block feeders full. The blue jays love that and they are there longer because of the time it takes to shell and eat the peanut. I'm currently going through about 25 pounds of shelled no waste sunflower seeds and 2 pounds of thistle seeds each week. I fill the peanut butter up daily and ocassionally put out an apple half. The ants are bad about getting the apple, so don't do it that often, but the mocking birds love it.
I'm not sure how cold it got here last night, but it required a blanket on the bed, which is unusual for us. We've still never turned the heat on, so not that bad.
Hope y'all all have a good day. It's certainly a beautiful one here, clear, cool and sunny.
Crow
Frogs singing is music to my ears, but I would have to agree....but a horde of them right outside my window at night might be a bit much. We don't have a pond anywhere near us, so we don't have that problem.
LouC have you tried propane heat for the 6x8 GH? I have a 6X8 Gh and I use a Mr Heater Buddy attached to a 20lb propane tank to heat and it works great. I used it last night. Just went out and turned it off. We were 29° at 7 this morning. The GH was 49°. If it wasn't lined with bubble wrap it would have been 39°. My plants are doing real well and blooming. I use an electric heater in the workshop for the brugs. I just went out and turned it on. It was 40° in there.
The ice in the the trees is very pretty today. They look surgared. Good thing it wasn't as cold night before last as last night or we would have had ice like Sheila.
Sooo slow to load!
I do hope everyone will stay warm and join us over here. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/947689/