I was visiting with my mom in her kitchen when my son came running in exclaiming, "Mama, mama look, look, look what I...." Before I could even see what was in his hand my mother was screaming at him to get that thing out of her house. I burst out laughing and she yelled at me which made me laugh even harder. I motioned to my son to take his new friend outside. Then I followed him once I regained my composure. It was just a small toad not even a big one. He was proud of his catch.! I forget what he named it, he names all of them. Dad and my husband were sitting on the porch steps. We talked about how we don't take toads inside and remembered the teeny tiny one he lost in the apartment when he was three. He still remembers. Thankfully I did find it after several hours. There was also the bigger one he and his buddy let loose in the car during his birthday camping trip. I had ripped everything out of the car but could not find it. Later I discovered the toad hiding in a gift bag when I went to get his present! Then my Dad told my son about how the neighbor boy and I dissected his barn toad. It wasn't anywhere near the barn when we found it and he will never let me live it down! I didn't photograph that toad, but one day while I was out practicing macrophotography on flowers we found a decent sized toad. Of course he had to catch it and so I decided we should have a toad photo shoot. It was challenging because of course animals don't like to hold still at least not for long and my macro lens is manual focus! We found it near a patch of bright yellow flowers. After taking a shot of it being held my son, he posed the toad near the flowers. Uncle Grumpy Jr. (the toad) kept escaping before I could get focus but after being continuously caught by my assistant he settled down. I photographed Uncle Grumpy Jr. under the flowers. I photographed Uncle Grumpy JR. on the flowers and next to the flowers. Eventually the photo shoot came to an end. We gave Uncle Grumpy Jr. a loving goodbye belly rub and released him back where we found him. Don't the yellow flowers accent his golden eyes well! It wasn't our first toad photo shoot. My son has several photos of toads on leaves, in his toy trucks and on his boot in his room. In fact I think I may have shared a few last year. Anyways to those of you who I like toads I hope you have enjoyed these short snippets of our life! Thanks for looking and don't forget to checkout our Prints and Gifts! Photos will be changing out again soon!
I haven't been traveling much, but I have discovered a wealth of wildlife in and beyond the pond here at the apartment. Yesterday my son and I were sitting next to the pond reading when suddenly a baby cottontail ran out of the bushes and nearly into my son's foot. It as absolutely adorable, but also running for it's life as not even four foot behind it was and equally adorable but hungry weasel! It was a flash in a pan in it's moment of time. It may seem insignificant but I write about it as a moment to remember. I wish I had gotten a photo of them but I was not prepared or ready..
So I have been working on a big project that is going to take quite some time to complete. I don't even know if it will pan out but while working on it I did get distracted. We had some new neighbors build their home by a creek behind the pond. A pretty spot for sure! But that male, Oh My Gosh he is not shy about flashing his goods! Absolutely no sense of modesty. Do you think that he helped at all on the build? Absolutely not! His poor wife was working hard hauling building materials and he kept trying to distract her dancing like a male stripper on a pole! The nerve of some males! She just watched him from above, mouth full of building materials. When he paused to see if she was looking she flew off as if he mattered not to continue her task but he was not willing to take no for an answer and continued pursuing her,. Get this he calls everyone a pretty girl day and night too. Some guys I tell you will try to charm the heck out of anyone! I feel a bit sorry for Mrs. Oriole! Although to be fair he is now very defensive of his territory. I hope you have enjoyed this short article and now introduce you to our new neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Baltimore Oriole! |
Julie MetottNature Photographer, wife, mother, lover of outdoor adventure! Archives
November 2022
Categories
|