Smoky Sky

Our neighbor was burning off some of his land, filling the afternoon sky with heavy smoke.

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Smoky Sky

Wednesday's Snow

Snow in the pines.

Snow began falling Tuesday evening.  It continued off and on throughout the early morning on Wednesday, and even for a little while after daybreak.  A wet, sticky snow combined with a calm wind quickly "flocked" the trees.  Early morning fog added to the effect.  All totaled, around two inches of snow fell. 

Our neighbors stock pond is about a half mile up the road.

This was an "ideal" snowfall.   The snow fell from the sky.  We saw beautiful snow scenes.  Then, the sky cleared and the sun shone brightly.  Virtually all snow was gone by day's end.  Nice.

The same stock pond nine hours later.

Wednesday's Snow

Wordless Wednesday

Please visit Wordless Wednesday to see and share more photos from around the world.

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Wordless Wednesday

ABC Wednesday: Frog (American Bullfrog - Lithobates catesbeianus)

"F" is for Frog.

In this case, an American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus or Rana catesbeiana), sitting at the pond's edge and waiting for prey to come within range.

Food:  Bullfrogs are carnivores.  They will eat anything they can subdue and swallow, including insects, fish,  snakes, small mammals and other frogs.  They often use their front legs to help shove food down their throats.  Bullfrogs (and other frogs) even retract their eyes as an aid to swallowing.  (Eye retraction helps push the prey toward their esophagus.)

Range:  The native range of bullfrogs was eastern North America.  However, they've been introduced and naturalized throughout much of the continental US, and as far south as Mexico and Cuba. They have even found their way to Europe, South America, and Asia.  Introduced bullfrogs often cause ecological problems because they eat all the native frog species.  In the wild, bullfrogs can live up 7-9 years and a female can lay as many as 20,000 eggs.

Habitat:  Freshwater ponds, lakes, and marshes.  The bullfrog in the photo above was in a small stock pond on our neighbor's cow pasture.

Respiration:  Frogs in the family Ranidae absorb oxygen and eliminate carbon dioxide through their moist skin, the lining of the mouth, and the lungs.

Territory:  Males are highly territorial and will aggressively guard their plot of pond.

Hearing:  The circular disc on the side of the frog's head is a tympanum which functions like a eardrum.

Human uses:  Fried frog legs and dissection specimens for school biology labs. 

Visit ABC Wednesday.

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ABC Wednesday: Frog (American Bullfrog - Lithobates catesbeianus)

Thursday, 3/20/08

Today we walked our regular route through the pastures and woods for the first time since receiving that 10.5" of rain earlier in the week. Everything was still a bit damp, but in pretty good shape. We were able to wear hiking shoes instead of rubber boot. Hiking in those ill-fitting, heavy and hot rubber boots takes half the fun out of taking a walk.

There was some erosion in places along the trails leading down the bluff and in the woods, but nothing too severe. The cows evidently did a pretty good job laying out those trials. Most of the wildflowers that are emerging were still small enough that they were not damaged either by the rainfall itself or the running water. Bloodroot, trillium, dog toothed violet and may apple are the primary species growing down in the woods.




I don't think I've ever seen our pond quite this full.








There was an abundant supply of tadpoles and frog eggs in the pond before the big rain and there still is. As the extra water drains from the pond fairly rapidly, some of the frog eggs are hanging up on recently submerged weed stalks.

Are the tadpoles eating the eggs are just using them for cover?






This unfortunate creature is a cicada grub. It was forced from underground by excess water, I imagine. The grub uses the heavy duty, claw-like forelegs for digging its way out from underground when it's time for cicadas to emerge. This individual is about two months early.

Thursday, 3/20/08

Bucket and the Pond Ice

"This water is different."

The times we make it up to the pond when it's frozen over are few and far between. Bucket doesn't know what to make of the frozen pond surface.

"What did you do to the water?"

Whenever anything isn't meeting a dog's expectations, she tends to blame the closest human and expect the human to "fix it".

"There's nothing to this walking on water."

Bucket soon lost interest in the ice and became more concerned about what our other dog was doing that she was missing out on.

Bucket and the Pond Ice

Wandering

Just wandering around taking photos without any particular theme or purpose.




A colorful mushroom growing on a fallen log. There were several of these growing in a cluster.




A relic from a pre-aluminum culture.

Unfortunately, previous owners of our place thought that proper trash disposal meant throwing it over the nearest bluff. This philosophy not only included daily trash but extended to old refrigerators and even automobiles.




Lots of tiny bubbles.


This little winter wetland pond would often be ice-covered in January, but this year's warm temperatures have led to abundant algae growth. If I'm not mistaken, the algae produces all the bubbles. The bubbles cling to the algae so it will float near the surface and, thereby, receive maximum sunshine for photosynthesis.

Wandering

Late Afternoon Walk

The pond on the upper pasture is a lot fuller than it was a couple of weeks ago, and we got another .6" of rain overnight. This rain came in the form of a thundershower, complete with a fair amount of thunder and lightning. Had to get up and unplug the computer.

I'm sure these high, wispy clouds have a name, but I don't remember what it is. I just thought they were a cool addition to the sky above our upper pasture -- a much better addition than the honey locusts in the foreground.

We leave on our afternoon walk about four o'clock every day, but with these short winter days, we can't dawdle too much or it's getting dark by the time we return. These long shadows point the way down the "home stretch" of the loop we normally walk.

While Jo and the dogs went on to the house, I decided to linger and photograph the "sunset". Here in the hills we don't have a true sunset. The sun simply drops down behind the mountain across the valley. Often, the sky is more colorful a while after we've lost sight of the sun.

Late Afternoon Walk

Pond on the Upper Pasture

The pond on our upper pasture. Like most ponds in this part of the county, it is low. The farther east one travels in the south, the worst the drought conditions become.

Fortunately, we have no livestock that depends upon our pond for drinking water. In fact, after twenty plus years of benign neglect, the area above our house can hardly be called a pasture anymore. When we first moved up to the Ozarks, we made a deal with our neighbor: He could use our pasture for his cows in return for keeping it brush hogged. Over the years, his brush hogging sessions have been few and far between, just often enough to make the blackberries, green brier and honey locust up there mad.


Bits and pieces over the past couple of days:

Jo made a trip to town on Monday. We hadn't bought groceries in a couple of weeks and were starting to run a little short on some items. It was actually my "turn" to have to go into town, but Jo didn't have much else to do except wait for her kiln to cool so that she could unload it. She made the run into town so I could stay home and get a few more spoons made.

Our weather is warming, the temperature is supposed to climb into the mid-sixties today. Tuesday was a beautiful, sunny fall day. The sun is also shinning brightly today, but a strong and gusty south wind is blowing.

Pond on the Upper Pasture