Firebelly Toad Froglet...

A little smaller then a dime, living in a 16oz deli container. It's eating fruit flies at the moment, but since it's so small I have way too many fruit flies.

I won NanoWriMo, meaning I finished my 50,000 words.

I won NanoWriMo, meaning I finished my 50,000 words. However, work isn't letting up and for whatever reason I decided to make everyone's Christmas gifts this year and that seems to be eating my extra time. I'll see what I can do about posting pictures, but since my free time has disappeared after Christmas is the best bet for daily photo resumption.

Grey Tree Frog

Gray tree frog, from the tail end of the Museum of Science in Boston's Butterfly Room.

Froggie

Tower Hill has frogs that might as well be plastic for how much they move. Judging by the double line of flower petals in the nearby grass they saw a wedding yesterday, so I probably wasn't that interesting.

White's Tree Frog

Since it's been painfully cold out recently, and I'm heating the reptile cages anyway, making my extra bedroom the warmest room in the house by far, I've been spending lots of time in the reptile room. I fixed the desk that used to hold cages so I can use it for writing and I've been hanging out with all my critters. The above frog is for some reason the least favorite critter of any guest I have. None of my extended family seem to like him. I think he's quite photogenic. He's also one of my older critters. He's coming up on 8 years, which is pretty good for a frog the size of my fist.

NaNoWriMo Word Count:

14029 / 50000
(28.06%)

Waseeka

I'm back. I've been fiddling with the pages for the last day or so, and should be back to posting as soon as it cools off enough to make it worth sitting at the computer with the pictures on it to post.

Yesterday I wandered about in the Upton/Hopkinton area. I started off at Upton State Forest which was mostly a bust. The water had dropped too much so any dragonflies were far from shore. I then looked at my maps and decided to try Waseeka since it wasn't too far away. On the way there I passed a small pond recreation area and thought I might want to visit it on the way back.

Waseeka was nice. However it is small and there is no map panel. I also wouldn't try getting a very big vehicle in their parking lot. I followed the trail straight, ignoring the off branches and walked along the earthen dam. The deer flies were awful in spots.

A very annoyed osprey spent most of the time I was there circling my head screaming. he didn't dive bomb, just circled, so I mostly ignored it. There were plenty of dragonflies there, including a bunch of widow skimmers and amberwings. neither were particularly accommodating, though i got one shot of a widow skimmer male.

There were also a bunch of very calm frogs. I guess when you get that fat there isn't much point in fleeing.

The best critter find was after I left Waseeka. I stopped at that Recreation area on Main street in Hopkinton. It is just a town managed pond as far as I can tell. However there were halloween pennants hanging out next to the parking lot.

Frog with Duckweed

As soon as it starts thawing again I'm looking forward to the frogs. There are two places where the pond frogs are often less jumpy. Broad Meadow Brook and Garden in the Woods are both excellent places to find frogs that are perfectly content to sit for long periods of time. Most will even sit still while children shriek nearby.

Broadmoor

I took a jaunt around Broadmoor this afternoon. I remembered immediately why I don't hike on weekends. Too many people... and shrieking children. I did see dozens of these guys. Only one wanted to sit still. The trail around the wildlife pond is flooded and full of frogs. There was just one damselfly. I also saw one far off dragonfly, but nothing else but bees. There was some nice fungus too.

Daily Photo - Chubby

Turns out it's a girl. I think the name still fits.

Making the White's Tree Frog Happier Too

This is Chubby, who is entering his 7th year with me. I must be doing something right. Step one was probably his huge cage. However like the leopard gecko I find it ugly and boring. I also really wanted a black background. So I put him in a critter box overnight and painted the three back panels of his cage. I stole the leftover branches from Spike, the leopard gecko, and doubled his amount of bedding so I could bury his water and food dishes. The black paint will also block the heat lamp light from the ball python, who might be next for a cage upgrade. he seems happy. I'll be adding pothos and philodendren cuttings as soon as I upgrade the lighting so he can have his jungle back. I'll be mixing some worm compost into his coco fiber bedding for the plants. It's been a few months since he had plants.

Daily Photo - Pickerel Frog

Moose Hill, by way of Moose Hill Farm due to a closed parking lot... I startled a bunch of these guys, but only this one stuck around.

Daily Photo - Wood Frog

I got up around 4 am yesterday and made it to Moose Hill around dawn. I wandered about until 8 am. I didn't see much actually, but two wood frogs. They made the trip totally worth it. The one above was about the size of my fist. I'd never seen one that large before. Random annoyance: there is a male cricket loose in my bedroom who keeps chirping at odd times.

Zion Wednesday

The climb that finally stopped me in Hidden Canyon.

My cousin^ who keeps talking me into these scary hikes.

We got lazy yesterday so just hung around the campsite. Wednesday we hiked to hidden canyon, which was very nice. That's where most of the above pics came from.

Zion to yesterday

A basic Zion view. On day one we hiked to all the Emerald Pools, which are totally worth the hike. Little lizards and damselflies abound. The pools are full of tadpoles and water striders. Personable lizard from Emerald Pools Trail. We also walked up to the Weeping Rock but it wasn't very impressive right now. Early in the morning the next day we scaled Angel's Landing. Actually i wimped out at Scout's Lookout and waited for my cousin to climb and come back from the Landing. Scout's Lookout has magnificent enough views for me. But watch out for the pushy chipmunks. The starter climb for Angel's Landing. I found Walters Wiggle to be easy compared to those first switchbacks. Pasted Panorama view from Scout's Lookout. Chipmunk looking for handout. Rattlesnake we saw on the way down from Angel's Landing. Checkerboard Mesa. Ripples. Utah Sandstone. One of my big goals was to find canyon treefrogs. On the overly long jaunt to the showers (I totally recommend the Zion Ponderosa Ranch showers, even if it is a solid 2 hours there and back from the campground) we stopped at all the lookouts on the Mount-Carmel highway. At one we could hear the sheep noise the frogs make when they call. After a slight scramble we found a pool with 5 frogs in it. Four were calling and one was just trying to stay away from the other 4. Some of the scramble. Calling male. Possible Female. This one kept trying to escape the others. Weird little (maybe 1/4 inch long) beetles from the campsites. Today we went to Hidden canyon and did the Riverside Walk. The narrows are currently closed, so we probably won't get to hike in there at all before we have to leave. Tomorrow morning we're going to try for Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park.

Daily Photo - Frog

There were some very accommodating frogs at Broad Meadow Brook yesterday.

Daily Photo - I feel ill

Hopefully this won't make you feel ill.

frog toes. Day two of the random head cold sore throat thing.

Daily Photo - Odd Alarm Clock

Any new critters get isolated for at least a month. This guys iso tank is about 1 foot from my bed. Around 5 am he starts bopping around it. I get woken up by the little thunks he makes as he lands on the glass.