Frog Hunters

We’ve recently moved to a newer home in a neighborhood that is purposefully keeping natural habitat as part of the appeal.  This means lots of “green space” for the GeekDad and GeekMom.  It means lots of cool animals, insects, and reptiles for the Geek-kids.

There are several cat-tail-surrounded ponds within walking distance of the house.  The kids, exploiting the last days of summer vacation, have taken to playing frog hunters most afternoons. [NOTE:
we allow them to catch frogs and toads, but we insist they are returned to their habitat after an hour or so of keeping them in a shallow container with some water in the shade.]

We thought we had a fair amount of wildlife near our last home –
but there is no comparison.  Here we’ve got:

• Toads (almost as big as the dogs)

• Mosquitoes (some look like they are able to carry off my youngest child or open the door for us if we ask nicely)

• Frogs (see Toads –
  although there seem to be several more sizes to choose from)

• Wild Turkeys
  (meandering their way into the woods…one attacked my Mini Cooper once, but that’s another post)

• Muskrats (at least that’s what I think it was…)

• Deer (their only presence is from their tracks in the mud)

• Coyotes (we’ve only heard them as they’ve woken us in the middle of the night)

While my oldest is convinced that she’ll need to ride a Holstein to school in the fall or hitch a ride on a tractor, we’re totally loving living just enough out of the city/suburbs that we get to experience all of the creatures in the area.

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