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Anurans

During the last trip to Wisconsin, I commented on the large amount of baby American toads, apparently having recently hatched.  Due to the inevitable consequences of the food chain, there were far fewer this time, but the ones we did find were older and bigger.  The kid was equally amused with hunting them this time as she was last time.

Anaxyrus americanus

During our evening amphibian stalk, I caught a glimpse of some creature hopping away in panic–far quicker than the toads had.  Excited at the prospect of introducing my daughter to another species, I charged into the tree line, disregarding the fact that my footwear was ill-suited for such.  Nevertheless, I captured my quarry.

Lithobates sylvaticus

Initially, I misidentified it as a tree frog, but some research revealed it to be a wood frog, and apparently a very common species.  But common or not, I like frogs.  I suggested we go show it to grandma, but upon doing so were immediately forced to egress the cottage.  Apparently, moms just don’t appreciate wildlife indoors.

–Simon

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Prairie

Prairies are a part of Indiana’s natural heritage, I’ve been told, according to this rest stop sign anyway.

The girls were inside and I was walking the whippets.  I noticed from afar, across the manicured expanse of Kentucky bluegrass, what appeared to be an informational board for the casual passerby.  Naturally curious (and myself being a casual passerby), I trekked through the grass to read this beacon of knowledge.

Perhaps the sign itself was a victim of fire?  Or maybe it’s yet one more icon of yesterday, fallen into disrepair.  Judging from the number of toll roads I had to pay to get through Chicago, it’s apparent that the national Interstate budget isn’t sufficient anymore.  Sad, although it was kind of amusing to see that this sign still remained, all the way out in what is obviously not native prairie.

The field was also littered with structural foundations, but I couldn’t figure out for what.  Another mystery lost to time.

–Simon

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Chicago

Last week we had an unexpected Wisconsin revisit.  This time, it was under less jovial terms, as Liz’s grandfather had passed.  Godspeed on your journey, Mr. Hintz.

As for our own far less spiritual journey, we opted to pass through Chicago this time.  While most likely a benign experience for locals, I enjoyed it, and made note of landmark buildings.

The Skyway–Chicago sure has a lot of toll roads
The Sears Tower (formerly), or the Willis Tower now–once upon a time the tallest building in the world
A passing shot of the skyline
The John Hancock Center–important to me because I watched it collapse in an episode of Life After People

–Simon

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I’m a Tumor I’m a Tumor

I was picking tomatoes, as I’ve been know to do, and recoiled at this unpleasant sight:

It looks like it had an aborted twin.  Yuck.  Naturally, I took to the Internet for information.  Unfortunately, the seconds I spent on this avenue of research did not yield any scientific articles on this phenomenon (Google thought I wanted to know about tomatoes being used in cancer research), but I did successfully establish the commonality of this scenario among gardeners.  One gentleman had posted this:

He even went so far as to make it an annual event, and posts the winning tomato’s picture from his self-hosted contest.  Funny people, bloggers.

But all I could think about was the “I’m a tumor I’m a tumor” song.

–Simon

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Mantis (Part 2)

I noted recently that my jalapeño has a guardian.  Then, while making my regular rounds, I noticed that my mustard plant too has one of these garden sprites.

Its abdomen looks like a mustard seed pod

Its not very big, and I had to fight my phone’s auto-focus to get that picture, and by then it was growing weary of my presence and had started to crawl away.  Hopefully he’s off to eat mosquitoes.

–Simon