Bear here...

Ever had that day when you looked out the window and said CRAP!!! ... DOUBLE CRAP!!! Where did all that snow and ice come from!?! NOT,  PREPPED,  FOR WINTER.  Not a good feeling. Caught with your pants down & and ice dangling from the sensitive bits.

This is a friendly reminder to get ready. I have a few tips here & if you really want to be ready to ride the storm out here is a link for our Prepare for Power Outage page, 

TIPS:
OK... 1 tip...

 IF you have a wood burning stove, get the wood ready NOW. Mine has been delivered but I still need to stack it, split enough kindling to last for 5-6 months & split enough wood so we have smaller pieces to get the box hot enough to burn the bigger stuff. with my work scheduel  it's going to take me at least 2 weeks if I'm lucky, chances are it will be done around early October.

Oooo... thought of another tip... clean your chimney before everyone else does theirs, less waiting for appointments. I f you clean them yourself Its a good idea to have a professional come out every 2 or 3 years to inspect for other repairs. If you want to do it yourself there are tips on How to Clean a Chimney.

It's better to be ready than sorry, just sayen...

​Type at ya later...

Bear here...

Our new neighbor in the garden is a Black and Yellow Garden spider (Argiope aurantia). She can eat bugs that are twice her size.  Just to let you see how big she is here is a picture of her near my thumb...

She is a beneficial garden spider built for getting rid of pests. Her venom doesn't harm humans. Her bite is like getting stung by a wasp. I probably should have looked that up before the picture was taken.

I was careful NOT to disturb the web for the photo, We saw her almost go after a flying bug but she decided against it.

Just more cool stuff you can find in the garden.

​Type at ya later...

Bear here...

Cool news first. Theresa has been taking classes the past six weeks and is now a certified master naturalist (she has a badge and everything!). What this means for me is we have lots of her study books to look up the actual names of stuff in our yard. (... What? ... Whoa... I can look up stuff in books? Is that like studying? Not so sure I' into that, but... I digress...) She now has field guide books and knowledge on mid-western amphibians, mammals, birds, plants, and more. (I'm pretty sure there is more...)

Today's Look and Book is Reptiles & Amphibians and the type of frogs we have are... Green Frogs!
(How obviously... descriptive(?). Boring. They look like green frogs with bright green lipstick so I'm calling them Lady Frogs (the males can be called Frogs in Drag).

Today was the first time I was able to get a picture of three of them! There is a brown circle behind the eyes that is their "ear." Male's circles are bigger than the eyes and they have bright yellow chins. Here are some close ups. Can you tell if our frogs are male or female? (Some of the brighter green spots on the frogs is duckweed.)

Out of all the pictures I took these were the best shots. I took a lot of pictures and boy, was I hungry after that! I needed a sandwich.

COOK OF ANARCHY TIME!!! 
​