Toads

[zeeprogrammer]

Toads. Given today's climate (whatever one thinks of global warming), technology, the use of poisons and pesticides...seeing toads gives one hope.
I haven't opened the pool yet and haven't done a great job of keeping the water off the pool cover.
We discovered these...



There wasn't just one pair. There were two.



T will not use poison or pesticide in our yard. We (I mean she) grow quite a bit of food and we enjoy seeing what animals also enjoy our yard.
It's always a good sign to see a toad.
We like seeing the bats come around, the deer, the occasional fox, hummingbirds, butterflys (she grows butterfly bushes to attract them), finches, cardinals...it goes on.

She'll complain of the deer, mice, or voles that get into her garden. But knows the worth of having life around us.

Such a bummer I have to open the pool.

I have no problem getting rid of those blood-sucking parasitical mosquitoes though.

I mean really...those are a beautiful set of toads.

You'd think the ones on the top would look a bit more excited. 

[philjoe5]

Really Zee, how about a bit of privacy for the poor toads.   

I think it was almost 10 years ago I had the brilliant idea of not putting weed killer or synthetic fertilizer on our lawn.  We used corn gluten for about 4 years at which time the worms and earth insects and such keep the lawn going.  Admittedly, I've got loads of dandelions, and other lawn flowers but my lawn stays green all summer even during dry conditions.  We have all kinds of birds, butterflies, and bees keeping everything in order and we have the only mosquito free yard in our neighborhood. 

Cheers,
Phil

[zeeprogrammer]

Really Zee, how about a bit of privacy for the poor toads.   

Yes, I did feel a bit intrusive. I don't think they minded though. As they shouldn't.
One should never feel embarrassed when it comes to what comes naturally.

As my daughter reminds me when she says "Don't worry about getting old Dad. I'll be here to wipe your butt."

Hey...what comes around goes around I guess.

[b.lindsey]

Keep in mind that Zee has used the term squeeze several times over the last few days. Little wonder the toads drew his attention 

Bill

[Brian Rupnow]

Zee---Definitely a different kind of post, but it brings back a memory. My dad was overseas during the second world war from 1939 to 1945 with a Canadian regiment. When he returned home at the end of the war, he said that the most beautiful thing was to hear the frogs singing in the spring here in Ontario. Apparently there were no frogs in the parts of Europe he fought in. He said that there were certain varieties of toads there that spit poison if you disturbed them. Not a really powerful poison, but very painful if it got in your eyes. I have some swampy land near my house, and I heard the frogs singing for the first time this year about three nights ago. I have to agree with my dad. I love to hear them singing as well. It means that winter is truly over, and another summer is just around the corner.--Brian

[zeeprogrammer]

Keep in mind that Zee has used the term squeeze several times over the last few days. Little wonder the toads drew his attention 

 
You have keen insight. I need to be more careful.

Brian...yes. It's wonderful to listen to the life outside. Cicadas are supposed to be coming and I'm looking forward to it.
There's been one sound lately we haven't been able to identify. I think Cicada but T doesn't. Very odd sound.

All of that is our first warning. No lightning bugs? No empty June bug carcasses? No frogs? Haven't seen a garter snake lately? Start worrying. (Actually too late to start.)

[crueby]

Nice looking toads. And I thought that your stinking hoppies were named after hippy rabbits!!      I hope you are going to change the water in the pool, looks a bit thick!

I was out canoeing on the creek up the road the other day, heading up to the swamp that covers a good chunk of the western end of the state, and saw that the turtles had flown back north already  plus lots of birds out, some deer, and the local beaver lodge was active. Even found a falcon feather. Now if I could just get that stupid woodchuck living under my deck to move away - keeps chewing things up and undermining pavers.

[zeeprogrammer]

When I was a teenager back home in Missouri, you'd see a lot of skunks.
Not a few 'dead in the middle of the road'.
Once in a while, here in PA, I'd get a whiff of skunk and it would remind me of home. Such nostalgia.

Now when I go home, it's not skunks...it's armadillos. Never saw them before in Missouri.
Now there's one by the side of the road nearly every few miles.

Used to see a lot of box turtles back home too. That's been a while.

While I don't miss the copperheads...I hope they're doing all right.

[Captain Jerry]

We have frogs, not toads.  My wife grows a butterfly garden too.  This time of year I frequently find a mass of frog eggs in the pool.  My wife scoops them out, puts them in a jar and takes them to our great-grand-daughter's school.  In a few days they are tadpoles.  The kids watch the full cycle, rear legs, front legs, tail absorbed, little frogs that they are allowed to release.   A little later she will pluck some caterpillars off of her bushes and of to school for the same purpose.  Last year the butterflies matured on the occasion of an outdoor event at the school and the release of the yellow butterflies was almost theatrical.

It's still okay to kill ants, right?

[zeeprogrammer]

Frogs here too. They were more plentiful but I haven't seen any for a few years.

Ants. No problem killing he ones trying to share my home.
They'd do the same to me if I invaded their house.

[crueby]

When I was a teenager back home in Missouri, you'd see a lot of skunks.
Not a few 'dead in the middle of the road'.
Once in a while, here in PA, I'd get a whiff of skunk and it would remind me of home. Such nostalgia.

Now when I go home, it's not skunks...it's armadillos. Never saw them before in Missouri.
Now there's one by the side of the road nearly every few miles.

Used to see a lot of box turtles back home too. That's been a while.

While I don't miss the copperheads...I hope they're doing all right.

One night I heard something scrabbling around in the shrubs, turned on the porch light, saw the cat. Was opening the door to shoo it off the porch when I saw the stripe down the back... Nice kitty....  Sllooowwwlly closed the door!

[Tennessee Whiskey]

Well, did you give 'em a squeeze    The way I see it, you got two choices: keep the pool closed until they head South for the summer or send them to me, " Frog Legs Every Wednesday " Hey, I'm trying to be helpful 

Cletus

[Tennessee Whiskey]

Crueby, we call them " streamline kitties with a fluid drive "

Cletus

[zeeprogrammer]

keep the pool closed until they head South for the summer or send them to me, " Frog Legs Every Wednesday " Hey, I'm trying to be helpful

Now I know you know better'n that.

Them's toads. Not frogs. No one wants toad legs. 
You don't go toad giggin' do you?

Or are you not so particular?

Maybe not. I recall that nice picture of your legs in the tu-tu. 

[Tennessee Whiskey]

Now I ain't your average redneck, toad legs are haute cuisine 

C

[zeeprogrammer]

Now I ain't your average redneck

 

[PStechPaul]

I found this guy (or gal) in my house last August. It was more yellow/orange/golden than it appears in the pictures:









Some were taken with flash, some with ambient lighting. I'm not really sure if it is (or was) a frog or toad. The following picture is blurry but better shows the color:



In September I found this colorful spider on the window of my truck:





Ah, nature!

[zeeprogrammer]

Nice shots Paul.

The question I would have...is it unusual to see them?

For me, seeing amphibians is a sign of a healthy environment.

The spider shots are great too. We get some good ones here too. (But in the yard...where they belong.)

Life attracts life.

We have a big lilac bush in our back yard. I always look forward to see what kind of bird decides to make a home in it.
This year I see the beginning of a nest...but it doesn't look like it's been worked on for a few days. 

[Doc]

T will not use poison or pesticide in our yard. We (I mean she) grow quite a bit of food and we enjoy seeing what animals also enjoy our yard.
It's always a good sign to see a toad.
We like seeing the bats come around, the deer, the occasional fox, hummingbirds, butterflys (she grows butterfly bushes to attract them), finches, cardinals...it goes on.

She'll complain of the deer, mice, or voles that get into her garden. But knows the worth of having life around us.

Carl same here we use no pesticides or chemicals in our yard or garden. We have a water garden and the frpgs usually show up when the weather gets nice. Ou pups like to go out in the yard and go frog hunting (they chase them beck into the pond)

Such a bummer I have to open the pool.

I have no problem getting rid of those blood-sucking parasitical mosquitoes though.

I mean really...those are a beautiful set of toads.

You'd think the ones on the top would look a bit more excited. 

look close Carl I think hes eyes are rolling back just sayin hahahahaha 

[zeeprogrammer]

look close Carl I think hes eyes are rolling back just sayin hahahahaha 

You may be right Doc. Seems like I recognize that look.
Or rather...what I seem to remember. 

[Dean W]

How funny; 
I stop in to see what my old friend Zee is up to, and he's sneakin' a peek at the toad-lovin' going on in his back yard.
Way to go, Carl!  (I say as I go to close all my curtains...)

Dean

[zeeprogrammer]

Dean! Good to see you!

Don't be a stranger.

I'll get a PM off to you soon and catch up.

[sshire]

Apparently, you can eat toad legs in Oz.
Looks like an Outback branch for Cletus.

http://www.ntnews.com.au/lifestyle/darwin-cooks-boast-new-delicacy-cane-toad-legs/story-fnk0b1ks-1226924454523

[b.lindsey]

Sure ain't much meat on them bones Stan. Unless they are overrun with Cane Toads, the population will be gone if that culinary trend catches on

Dean...great to see you!!  As Zee said, don't be a stranger. I have missed you excellent build logs here.

Bill

[wagnmkr]

As I understand it, the Cane Toad is a major problem there. I believe they were brought in to solve another problem and then, just took over. National Geographic did a thing on them last year.

Tom

[b.lindsey]

And then there is this....one of many versions...see what you started Zee

Bill

[zeeprogrammer]

A small story.

When I was a small kid, I lived in Hawaii next to a sugar can field.
Lots of huge frogs. Many would try to cross the road.
On the way to school I'd count the ones that didn't make it.
Squished flat, dry and stiff.

The original frisbee

[Captain Jerry]

I have heard of "sail cats" created by the same circumstance.  I guess these would be "sail frogs"?

[philjoe5]

This year I see the beginning of a nest...but it doesn't look like it's been worked on for a few days. 

You know those dang birds.  They get to chatting on some bird nest forum and just can't seem to find any shop time 

Cheers,
Phil

[zeeprogrammer]

This year I see the beginning of a nest...but it doesn't look like it's been worked on for a few days. 

You know those dang birds.  They get to chatting on some bird nest forum and just can't seem to find any shop time 

 

uh...yeah.

[sssfox]

I have a toad story I have to tell.

When my daughter was around four, she wanted to plant some flower seeds in little pots.  We went to the back yard and I pulled out the bag of partially used potting soil.  When I opened the bag, a couple of narrow mouthed toads hopped out.  They are rather small, about an inch long or slightly less, anyway, I started scooping out soil for the pots.  A couple of scoops in, I ran across a cluster of eggs.  They were clear and about 1/8" in diameter.  My daughter asked what they were and without a lot of thinking, I told her they were probably toad eggs from the narrow mouthed toads that had come out of the bag.  She suggested we save them and see if they would hatch, so I put them in a small cup with some moist potting soil and covered it with Saran wrap.  I put it in the window sill in her room so she could monitor their progress.  Later that night, when her mother was reading her a bedtime story, I got to thinking that they couldn't be toad eggs because toads lay their eggs in water.  I told this to my daughter and said that they were probably snail eggs.  She suggested that we keep them anyway to see what hatched.

Well, I forgot about them, but she didn't.  A couple of days later, she came running in and told me the eggs had hatched.  I went in and checked.  Sure enough, there were about a dozen tiny toads in the cup.  I have to admit, I was amazed.  I looked them up and found there are actually several types of toads that don't necessarily go through the tadpole stage and these narrow mouthed toads happen to be one of them.  She watched them for a while and then got bored with them, as children do.

As an epilogue, she suggested we release them into the bromeliads in the back yard, so that's what we did.  We then went to the deck about fifteen feet away to work on the plants we had assembled a couple of days earlier.  Within five minutes, a bird came down and ate every one of the little toads. 

All my daughter said was "well, that's nature for you".
She's a veterinarian, now.

[zeeprogrammer]

Good story.
Good daughter. 

[modelman 1938]

Just down the road from where I live in Christchurch Dorset UK we have a toad crossing where the road has official signs put in place by the local council warning of toads crossing. These signs have hinged and locked covers which are in place most of the year, but when in the spring the toads start to cross the road ,my friend unlocks the covers and hinges them down to display a large toad inside a red warning triangle.

Hugh

[oil mac]

  The house in which I was born,was a small one bedroom & living room building in 1940 It was reckoned to be 140 years old, Mother required an area in which to do her weekly washing, and my dad (Who was a handy soul) built a substantial shed at the side of the house, in this shed he constructed a wash boiler, Which was a circular brick housing , holding a cast iron "copper or boiler" These boilers then in the early 1940/s could be obtained for a moderate sum of money from some of the small iron foundries, Under this boiler he constructed a fire grate area, lined with fire brick this had a cast -iron fire bars. < He also constructed a square brick chimney at the rear, All in all she was well pleased with her "do it yourself  laundry facility"

 Not many weeks after she set to work, she was startled to find a large toad sitting watching her, After a while she got used to watching out for the wee guy in case she stood on him, she found out where he came from, He lived behind the boiler, and when she heated up her boiler he came out, and after she drew the fires and the boiler cooled down he went back behind the boiler to his hiding place, She had him as a companion for a long time, and actually looked forward to seeing him.

 Fast forward to today's sanitized lifestyle , around where i live with pesticides and all undergrowth hacked  awayin all my neighbors gardens (except mine) , wildlife has no place in their minimalistic world, I encourage all wild creatures, even the ants at the top of my garden except if they find their way in the house

[zeeprogrammer]

We used to have a small lizard that would pop out every night at the same time above the door to the family room. It would circle the room and then disappear.

We also had a spider living in one of our houseplants. Once in a while we'd catch a fly and throw it into the web. But then one day he or she was gone. Got lonely I think.

Ah...reminds me of another story. I used to have a hamster. Sometimes it would get so cold in the room it went into hibernation. I'd hold it in my hands until it came out of it. But one day, after quite a while...I realized...it was  not asleep. 

Ah...so many stories out there. Fun stuff.

[PStechPaul]

In High School biology class we did an experiment with tadpoles to see how their growth and other characteristics might be affected by adding adrenaline to their water. I don't remember the results, but they seemed to take forever to develop, so we plopped them into a pond nearby and let them fend for themselves. We also had a plastic swimming pool, and I found some tiny swimming critters that looked like tadpoles, somewhat. So I put them in a bucket in an old doghouse and checked on them occasionally. They seemed to be getting bigger, but nowhere near as large as tadpoles. Then one day I pulled out the bucket and I found a swarm of mosquitoes on the surface of the water, and what looked liked the empty shells. I thought maybe the mosquitoes had killed my tiny tadpoles and sucked them dry. I'm not even sure they were mosquitoes - they were larger (IIRC) and black, perhaps some sort of dragonfly or wasp?

[zeeprogrammer]

Stinking blood-sucking mosquitoes.

How dare you mention them again. 

Not much different from some of the picture demanding, proof of food dishes eaten, project finishing members here. 

Oh! Dragonflies! That reminds me...we usually see quite a few here but I don't remember seeing them last year.

[Dave Otto]

Dean! Good to see you!

Don't be a stranger.

I'll get a PM off to you soon and catch up.

Dean, I agree with Zee; I miss seeing your great projects! Please don't be a stranger.

Dave

[Captain Jerry]

Speaking of odd animals, I was cleaning behind the tool shed today and discovered a juvenile Henway!

[PStechPaul]

It's amazing that you were able to find one, as they are very rare, due to their being preyed upon and eaten by the very elusive and deadly Catswate. Were you able to get a photo?

[Captain Jerry]

No.  It wouldn't have made a very good picture as it was all covered with Updock.

[zeeprogrammer]

Somehow I've found myself in the desert. Dry. Very very dry. 

[wagnmkr]

Hmmmm ... a Henway ... I haven't seen one of them in a very long time. Certainly hope they don't spread and I am glad they are allergic to fresh, oatmeal, cranberry, raisin cookies.

Tom

[zeeprogrammer]

Hmmmm ... a Henway ... I haven't seen one of them in a very long time. Certainly hope they don't spread and I am glad they are allergic to fresh, oatmeal, cranberry, raisin cookies.

I've said it before. Oatmeal cookies, whether with cranberries and/or raisins...is a breakfast food.
I wish I could convince T of that. Then it'd be cookies everyday.

[crueby]

i'd say you guys need to get out more, but maybe its better that you are confined to that padded wing....

[zeeprogrammer]

i'd say you guys need to get out more, but maybe its better that you are confined to that padded wing....

Is that what that stuff is? Fluffy? Sort of white? Soft?

Hey it's pretty comfortable here.

[crueby]

i'd say you guys need to get out more, but maybe its better that you are confined to that padded wing....

Is that what that stuff is? Fluffy? Sort of white? Soft?

Hey it's pretty comfortable here.

Um, yeah. Stop eating the walls, they are not marshmallows!

[zeeprogrammer]

i'd say you guys need to get out more, but maybe its better that you are confined to that padded wing....

Is that what that stuff is? Fluffy? Sort of white? Soft?

Hey it's pretty comfortable here.

Um, yeah. Stop eating the walls, they are not marshmallows!

Not to worry. Walls are for bouncing off of.

[Captain Jerry]

OK Chris, I'll play straight man...What's "outmore"?

[crueby]

OK Chris, I'll play straight man...What's "outmore"?

Town just past Dartmoore?!

[Captain Jerry]

OK Chris, I'll play straight man...What's "outmore"?

Town just past Dartmoore?!

  Darn!  Ya got me!

[Flyboy Jim]

OK Chris, I'll play straight man...What's "outmore"?

Town just past Dartmoore?!

Just don't confuse it with that town, world famous for their homemade chili.............called................F(well you get the idea) 

Jim

[Pete49]

Is this a good crowd or what? We can go from toads to frogs then asylums and so far end with chilli 
 
Pete