Treasures Left Behind

For some folks Labor Day marks the end of summer, the beginning of fall. The first snow means winter has arrived regardless of the date. Break out the skis or ice skates or both. Try and figure out why you never got around to sending that jacket to the cleaners... maybe when it warms up.

For me I don't bother with calendars. I don't ski or skate anymore. I also don't need the weatherman to tell me when winter has arrived. I know by the smell in my house. It isn't a bad smell and it doesn't last long. It's that smell the furnace emits when first fired up after a long spring, summer and fall. All the dust, and probably stuff I don't want to know, that has settled on the furnace burners is consumed by the gas flames and blown throughout the house.

Sniff. Yep, winter's here. I can smell it.

So the leaves are turning and falling. It's a pretty time of year me thinks. It is now cool enough to do things without drenching my t-shirt in sweat.

Today I was picking leaves out of the pond. I found a mini-cove where leaves had collected and was removing them when I came across a treasure that I would like to think Joe left for me. Tangled in the leaves was a mouse. By the looks of it I have to assume that Joe gave it a taste and for whatever reason rejected the meal. So she left it for me.

Wait a second. Now that I think about it maybe Joe put that mouse there for a snack at a later date. Kinda like when the squirrels bury nuts for the winter. Yea, that's probably what's going on. That green eat'n machine was just planning ahead with a mouse stash in a little corner of her pond. Isn't that sweet.

So once again I have to apologize to Joe... Sorry Joe, I tossed your stash.

Not Everyone Likes American Bullfrogs

As I peruse the Internet in an effort to broaden my knowledge of the American Bullfrog I find that not everyone thinks they are such great creatures. In fact, some folks just down right hate 'em.

I currently don't feel that way but I've only had Joe visiting. I might have a different attitude if Joe had eaten my pet snake or killed the koi in my pond (actually I don't have any koi but if I did I would be pissed something killed them).

The native habitat of the bullfrog is from the rockies to the east coast and from Ontario down to central Florida (as best as I can determine). That was in the old days. In these here new days you will find the bullfrog shoot'n for world domination... kinda. They are common in Arizona, New Mexico, California and points north into Canada and south into Mexico. They can be found in Hawaii, the Caribbean, South America, Europe and Asia.

The complaint about the Joe type frogs is their appetite in conjunction with their ability to sate subject appetite. To further exacerbate the "invasion" concern, is the lack of predators.

Of course their population explosion isn't a natural thing. People have imported these guys for reasons that range from logical to absurd. People thought the bullfrog would take care of pests. People wanted to have fresh frog legs available. People wanted their pet frogs to be free like mother nature intended. Yea, right.

So now the bullfrog is eating frogs, snakes, birds, tadpoles and any other creature they can get into their mouth. They are blamed for making some species of frogs endangered. They are changing environments where they have been imported.

In addition the bullfrog seems to be a bit smarter than the average amphibian.  For instance, if people try to poison the pond where the bullfrogs are living, in most cases they just leave the pond and move on. It's said they will travel to new ponds or die trying. I say they will travel to new ponds or dry trying.

The bullfrog isn't the first creature man has imported that caused more harm than good.  Right off the top of my head I recall the zebra mussel.  Rabbits were imported to Australia.  The snake-head fish brought to the US from China.  Even koi are considered invasive in Maine.  The "Old World Sparrow," which is really a finch, was brought to the US from Europe.  Depending on how you look at it most people living in the US are "imported" too.  Didn't the first Europeans bring disease that the Native Americans had no anti-bodies thus causing death...  I think that's right.

It seems to me there is a lot of creature hate going around.  I think once the horse is out of the barn it isn't going to do much good to shut the barn door.  Yep, the creatures do what ever they do.  Man tries to undo the error in our ways.  It is pretty much a hopeless battle.  I don't know if it's worth fighting... just don't know.  Possibly Mother Nature could fix it but she works way too slow for us humans.

In the mean time the mussels are clogging our waterways.  The rabbits are still mating in Australia.  The snake-head fish is still cleaning out other species in US lakes and rivers they inhabit.  The koi are destroying habitat in Maine and the sparrows are killing blue birds.  The American Natives are still fighting to recoup their loses when Europeans were imported.  And Joe... Joe and her brothers and sisters around the world are eating and mating and moving on.

Plagiarized Pictures

I ran across the following 6 pictures and wanted to share them mostly because they are pretty good pictures and they show the bullfrog having lunch.


It appears to me that someone, could it be the photographer, put crumbs on the lilly pad to attract a bird.  I guess it worked and the pictures turned out pretty good.... but it's kinda like cheat'n don't ya think?

I wanted to contact the guy who posted these but he didn't share his email address...

Where Did Joe Really Go?

So your not happy with the little story about Joe versus the Cajun? Well rest easy, no Cajun folk around here. People are asking where Joe went. Still in my yard? Moved to better digs?

The short answer is: I don't know.

My best and thought about guess is: Joe went underground. I've been thinking for a while now that she was into some cover-up having to do with the now defunct mortgage market. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, she was the head honcho at either Fanny Mae or Freddy Mac.... I can't remember which one. Of course she had to go and I would think it logical to go underground in consideration of all the negative things being said about those institutions.

You don't think that's it huh? OK, I've covered this in previous posts like Joe has a Balloon & More Frog Facts. I'll briefly speak to it again.

When it gets cold frogs, being cold blooded creatures, enter into a torpor. This is similar to hibernation but more like a dormancy. Bull frogs usually bury themselves in the mud and muck in the bottom of a pond or lake. They will remain there all winter emerging in late spring. Bull frogs can "breath" through their skin. Between that amazing fact and that their metabolism is super slow in their state of torpidity, they have no problem spending winter under water. I have read where bull frogs have been found in ground depressions covered by leaves. My pond guru said he is always finding dormant frogs in the spring when he is out working on ponds helping them emerge from their winter sleep.

So is Joe on the bottom of one of my ponds? Possibly, but it would have to be the skimmer pond as that is the only one that didn't get drained. She could be in a storm drain. She may have moved to one of the irrigation canals that we have all over Grand Junction and buried herself in the muddy bottom.

The truth is I don't know where she came from and I don't know where she went. I do know it was fun having her around and I miss the daily drama.

I'm sure we will have frogs again this coming spring. The Woodhouse Toads followed by Joe or a Joe-look-alike. I hope so anyway.