Showing posts with label tree frog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tree frog. Show all posts

Sunday, June 03, 2007

I have that nice, outdoorsy smell!

Farmer's tan...check.
Dehydrated...check.
Pulled muscles...check.
Dirt under fingernails...check.

It takes forever to do yard work by yourself.
But Geoff helped out the best way he could...he took the girls out for the day.
The hummingbird/butterfly garden is 90% done.
I would like to add a few plants around the bowl, but other than that, I am pleased:

Hummer bfly corner with mini pond
Plants I used:
Milkweed, lobelia, Dutch Pearl fuschia, wild strawberry, beard-tongue, bee balm, and I think some moneywort has taken up residence. I also added a yellow bell-type of flower that I can't remember the name of. I need to find the receipt...
I threw in some broken pottery (My favorite piece of Fiestaware broke last year, and I knew I could use it somewhere). And there's a clay pot nestled in there for any toads who are feelin' froggy. Har.
And a fairy statue. And a broken angel statue, half-buried in the mulch, like she is sleeping.
There's also a hanging basket with a coco liner full of plants that I got for free from the nursery.
At my nursery, you grab a clipboard and write down all the plants you chose, then the staff knows what is being moved out. The last time I was there, a group of workers was standing there, gawking at me. I looked up, and one of them said that I deserved free plants for how precisely I was writing down my order. So they ended up giving me three different plants for free. Nice, huh?
There's actually four free plants, because one of the pots had a purple petunia growing out of some other kind of plant.
The only other one I remember is Oxalis, something or other. Very pretty, with triangular purple leaves.
Corner from above
The corner from above.
Totally cool moth on the front door
I am in love with moths. There, I said it.
This awesome dude was hanging out on the front door today.
I showed the picture to Isabelle, to see what she would say. I knew what was coming:
"That looks like really fancy bird poop."
I may just have to Google "bird poop moth".
UPDATE: I found it. It's a wood nymph moth, genus Euthisanotia.
What kind of critter is this
What in the world is this thing? It's one of those caterpillar/worm critters that stands up on its head.
Bloomin onion
Every day, I love our yard more. I am turning into one of those people who can marvel at a wild onion in bloom.
Ooooh....Bloomin' Onion. Yum.
Dill
A dill plant sits at the edge of the prairie, waiting for some tiger swallowtails to alight.
(And I am waiting for some dill bread.)
Four baby robins
The count of baby robins is now four. The last one hatched sometime today.
pine after the rain
We had plenty of rain today...easy, soaking rain with some short spells when it would stop and allow the water to go down nice and deep without running off.
I could almost hear the sucking of all the trees and plants...like a million straws.
weed that I want to be milkweed
I would love for this to be milkweed, but I don't think I am that lucky. There's a whole lot of this growing around here. I would be happy with Joe-Pye weed or Ironweed, though.
volunteer sapling
Is this an oak sapling?
There are lots of these popping up on the side yard. Right now, they are the tallest things in the yard over there.
Sunset
The sunset was a nice reward for such a long day of sweating and bending.
Tree frog close up

I think this is a new tree frog! The other one, at least what I saw of it, was more green. This one was brown. And damn cute. I heard them talking to each other while I was out there. Maybe some frog porn is in my future?
(Somehow, that just sounds wrong.)
Here's a quick video of the "Frog Love Song".

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Bootilicious frogs, cute piles of dryer lint, flutterbys, peek a boo BO, and dragonfly porn

I had a great day. And I love it when I can say that and mean it.
I had a program at the Loveland Castle today, for a homeschool group.
I think that my toe is whole, but it's jammed all to Hell and back.
The audience today was fantastic, the birds were well-behaved...and since I had Lorelei, Geoff met us at the castle and watched her while I presented.

Oh. By the way, I forgot to add this picture on yesterday's post:

IMG_3665

Yep, they are doing what you think they are doing.
I'd like to see a human male get into that position.
Or maybe I wouldn't.

Okay, on to the cuteness...
I am so glad that Mom decided to drop Isabelle off at RAPTOR today. She has never been there, and today was a good day to see the birds.


A cute pile of dryer lint
Because we have a baby screech owl.
Go ahead. Soak that in.
Dryer lint has never been cuter.


Isabelle took MOM shopping yesterday, and talked Mom into buying her a Bug Habitat, complete with bug vacuum. She caught some little sulphurs and we released them in the back yard:
Butterflies like sweat
I love this picture.
It's not every day you get so close to a butterfly that you can tell the color of its eyes.


And I love this too:
I heard our little tree frog tonight, and I decided that it was time to meet the neighbor.
I took a flashlight with me, thinking that I would be able to find him by his eyeshine. Nope.
I moved the light back and forth, but I didn't even know what color I was looking for. They come in brown, gray and green. And all of those colors are in our Euonymus bush.
He doesn't mind when we are out there...he just keeps on singing.
So I narrowed down the section I heard him in, and then I saw a glint of frog-skin:
Tree frog booty
Tree frog booty. In all its glory.

I so wanted to reach in and pick him up, but I want him to stay and enjoy his visit.
So I only got pictures of his bee-hind. Well, at least now I know what color he is, and maybe I can find him again when he is facing out.
Isn't he cute, anyway? I could just kiss him.
But you know, I have kissed lots and lots of frogs...and I have my prince.