Bullfrog Revisited

College kid caught the bullfrog!! I can't believe he did it. He is so fast, I guess years of skateboarding have given him good reflexes. We had been out cleaning the pool, vacuuming and scooping out leaves and such.

Dh had scooped up a net-full of leaves, and when he dumped it, out hopped this big black thing right towards him! The poor guy was too startled to do anything, (and no-one else was anywhere near close enough) so back in the murky water went our bullfrog.

We decided to call it quits a while later, due to dwindling daylight, and lightning. We poured in 6 jugs of chlorine, then college kid resumed trimming bushes. We noticed the frog popping up frequently, I assume to try and get out of the chemicals. College kid noted his movement, and waited like a hungry heron with his 10' pool pole and net. Up came frogger, and down came net! We had us a bullfrog!!

College kid immediately dunked him in some fresh water to remove the chlorine. He was so gentle with his little buddy. I noticed frogger wasn't black like I thought, more like a dark green. (similar to an alligator, actually) His belly is such a pretty mottled grey. He wasn't nearly as heavy as I expected either. He was really calm as we held him and admired his beauty. Doing some research, we've learned that bullfrogs are the largest frogs in N. America. They can eat birds, snakes, and other frogs. Our little buddy was 11" long, stretched out.


It was late by this point, so we had to decide what to do with the guy for the night. A ten gallon aquarium wasn't going to work, and everyone nixed the idea of the bathtub. So we put him in a large dog crate with as much water as it would hold. (a surprising amount)

This afternoon, we took him to the lake and released him. He'll have lots of friends, food, and natural vegetation. Perhaps he will contribute to future generations of froggers. It's a bittersweet time for me. I'm glad he's out of the pool. I didn't mind him, wasn't afraid or anything. But the chemicals we have to dump in there aren't good for him. So I'm glad he's away from that. But I miss him, miss looking out my bedroom window to see him sitting in the skimmer, or on the top step of the ladder. I miss wondering when the next time is he'll pop up to see us.

Still, it's for the best. He is a wild animal, and needs to be in his natural environment. Best of luck out there, Frogger. Thank you for all the fun, excitement, and stories you gave us.

God Bless,
Chela

Music

This is one of the neatest things I have ever seen. At first glance, it looks like a simple cabinet, perhaps from a grocery store. Nothing fancy there. However, if curiosity gets the better of you, and you put your hand in the empty space inside it, it plays music! So what can this be?

An Infrared Harp! It has infrared light beams running up and down across the harp. When your interrupt the beam, the computer senses this and causes music to play. Of course infrared light is not visible to humans, so we see an empty cabinet. There are high and low notes to play with as well. I couldn't stay away from this at the science museum, it was my absolute favorite thing ever!

Chela

Ferrets

Someone on an internet forum asked why they shouldn't get a ferret. I did my best to talk them out of it. I just wanted to let the poster know what they were getting into!

ferrets, ferrets, ferrets. I don't even know where to start. They steal things. Lots of things, and stash them in your furniture. Things like coins, keys, leather, FOOD!! Ours was very much into stealing food, crackers, cookies, pop tarts, an entire sleeve of them. Oatmeal cream pies, you name it, she stole it. A friend of mine had 7, and would take them to work with him. They put their heads together, and stole 10 York Peppermint patties from the counter, and stashed them under the couch.

Ferrets can get into ANYTHING! Like potted plants? Forget it! They can climb up to them, and will dig all the dirt out all over the floor. Like your cupboards and drawers neat and tidy? What if you opened your silverware drawer to find a sleeping ferret? Like to sleep? If your ferret hides so well you can't find her, (even my dog was fooled quite a few times), she will want to play at 3 am. Nothing like waking up to a ferret nose in your ear.

They can easily slip out the door, and go un-noticed for hours. It's a lot of work and stress trying to find a ferret outside. They require a lot of people time, especially if you only get one. Our ferret quickly learned that the ferret war dance gained her fruit loops. She was always attacking our feet. If you get multiple ferrets, they put their little weasel heads together, and cause double the mischief. They also only have two speeds-full steam ahead, and sleep. Full steam ahead? They don't want to be held, there is trouble to be had!

But mostly, they will steal your heart, and never give it back. They simply don't live long enough.

Remembering a great rooster

Most people have the same reaction when you mention a rooster. They think they are mean, dirty, noisy little devils that will attack you with no warning. I felt the same way, until I met Goober. We saved him from an untimely death after he trespassed to scratch up a flower bed. We almost didn't keep him, we didn't need another rooster! But keep him we did, and never regretted it.

Roosters will dip their wings to court a hen. They dip a wing, and dance for her. It's quite an impressive sight, unless you're the object of a rooster's affection. The next step he'll take is to start spurring you, and that hurts! Almost every rooster I've ever met has eventually dipped his wing at me. I've been spurred more times than I like to count. But Goober never dipped his wing to a person. He never thought about doing a courting dance to us, and he never spurred. Even young children, who roosters see as easy targets, never had to worry about him.

We got to the point where we stopped worrying about Goober, and really trusted him. He was just amazing. There was frequent conversation regarding Goober, and his personality. We were so lucky he was gentle, because he was so big!

If you can imagine this beautiful red rooster wandering around the farm yard, grumbling up a storm. And grumble he did! About everything! He wanted corn, he wanted his girls, he liked to grumble! It was a delightful part of his personality.

I'd like to say Goober loved us, but it may have been that we were keepers of the kibble. Goober always met us at the gate, and followed us around as we did our chores. He loved his corn, and his sunflower seeds. Around food came his only aggressive tendencies. He'd get along okay with his buddy Flyer, but would chase him away from the food. He wasn't aggressive towards us with his food, though.

When we let the hens out to free-range in the yard, Goober would get so excited! He would do his happy dance, and dip his wing to all the ladies. He watched over them so well. Any predators flew over, and he would issue a warning growl to tell the hens to take cover. If there was a disturbance in the yard, Goober would run over to see what was going on, and if it needed his assistance. He didn't miss anything.

Goober's hens lived in a separate coop with their own roosters. We let the hens out during the day, and put them back up at night. Goober slept in a separate area. We'd call all the hens in, and Goober would come in with them. He didn't want us to see him, so he'd hide in the cabinet in the pen. As big as Goober was, it wasn't hard to see him, really, but he always tried. When we shooed him out, he'd grumble all the way.

Goober was definitely one in a million as far as roosters go. I don't think I'll ever meet one as gentle and as full of personality as he was. I'll never forget running my fingers through his tail feathers, watching him free range in the yard with his hens, or hearing him grumble. Your spirit will live on, Goober, thank you for taking care of us. We'll miss you.

The Princess and the Frog

A little bit of background before I tell you my story. We've been having a lot of problems with our pool that last year or so. One thing after another keeps breaking on the pump, which prevents us from running the filter. As a result, our pool currently looks like Shrek's swamp. This weekend we are, again, going to buy another part and get it cleaned up for the summer.

Yesterday, my daughter decided she would at least skim the leaves off the top of the pool, and maybe some off the bottom if she could get them. I warned her repeatedly about the large bullfrog that has taken up residence in the deep end. DD brushed me off, telling me she wasn't afraid of frogs, it wasn't a problem, etc.

Well, she decided to clean out the skimmer, scoop out the leaves and stuff that have collected in there. What I didn't tell her, because she had already blown me off so much, was that the bullfrog was most likely in that skimmer. Especially since she hadn't seen him yet with her netting the pool.

DD is happily scooping out leaves and debris when suddenly the water starts churning, and dd screams like a little girl.

"It kicked my hand! It touched me, it kicked my hand!"

This turned into a complete meltdown over the grievous insult of this thing touching her. At this point, she still didn't know the seriousness of the situation. She had no idea how big this thing was!

So after a couple of minutes, dd collects herself, and gets back to scooping. I am quite proud of her for this. A lot of people would have given up at the first touch. She starts scooping, and the water is churning again.

Out of the skimmer climbs this ENORMOUS bullfrog! He gets his bulk out of the skimmer, hops across the bit of pool deck, and plops back in the water. DD and I were just too shocked to even try and catch him.


I keep thinking about how much worse the situation would have been if it had been Dh cleaning the skimmer. My daughter had a scoop, but Dh just puts his hand straight into the hole to grab the basket. If that frog had touched him, he'd have thought it was a snake, and had a heart attack. He'd also NEVER do that again. LOL

Happy Memorial Day!
Chela

The turtle...or the dog

I was driving down the highway today with my daughter, and noticed a turtle in the road. Of course, I didn't want him to get hit by a car, so I pulled over to move him out of danger. It took me a bit to stop, so I had to jog back a ways to get to the little guy.

Except after just a few steps,a snarling, angry dog came charging out of a driveway, not in the least amused with my intrusion on his territory. As I headed back to the car, the dog retreated to his home. That left me with a dilemma. Do I risk the dog again to rescue this turtle, or just let it be?

I thought maybe if I turned the car around, I could drive to the turtle and save him that way. But he was still awfully close to the dog. In the end, the dog won, and I drove on. Hope the little guy made it across without incident. Sorry buddy, but I couldn't get chewed up by a dog in the middle of nowhere to save you.

Chela

random pictures

Hello! Rather than email out all these pictures, I thought you might enjoy seeing them on my blog. Plus, I think it will be easier this way.

This is Chehaw Charlie, the biggest alligator in our zoo's collection. He rules the roost, and gets all the girls. The distance between an alligator's nose and eyes in inches is his length in feet. This is a BIG alligator!! About 14-15 feet. The picture doesn't show it, but his jowls are massive! Truly impressive.

These are my ducklings. Well, actually my friend's ducklings now. I bought them for her, but then fell in love and kept them for a while. Until I learned that ducklings are the messiest animals on the earth. Then I gave them to my friend. They are so cute though!!

I made this wreath, using coffee filters that I dyed with food coloring. It took forever, but I eventually got all the filters dried and attached. I hung it on my door, and within a week, had a birds nest in it. :0)