Now that it's winter in San Diego Pt. 2

Just because we are not inundated by snow drifts the size of house and temperatures that take your breath away the second you open the door doesn't lessen the effects of winter for your so-called spoiled southern folk! Do you realise the anguish that I must endure because just when I get going in the day I only have a couple of hours of light left!!! Why can't the sun just sit up there for at least 15 hours a day the year round! I know I was born at the time of year when the nights are long and the days are short but my only hope is that the day that I was born the sun shown at least a moment longer than it did the day before! When my birthday comes around I know that there is hope! I feel the light in its perennial return. [I am hell-to-pay before my birthday...just ask Carole if you need proof! No man can be as miserable before his birthday as a Christmas baby!]

So now that is out of the way we can continue on our San Diego winter adventure! Did I tell you that I found some interesting critters from the canyon below us? There are these really creepy looking centipedes that are not only huge but enough to make you fall backwards on your butt when you overturn the material that they are hiding under! Actually even though they can reach 7" or8" they are usually gone before you even get a chance to see them. Since they are strictly nocturnal they have an aversion to light.

In the 23 years that we have been here I have found a scorpion only once. I wish that I could have found more...I guess that is the naturalist in me!

Now, let us get to something a little more interesting...how many of you out there don't enjoy something froggy? Yea...Kermit and I go way back! I can tell you that on one occaision in my youth (this was certainly not the earliest encounter) I was about 15 years old living in Rockford, IL. on what remained of an earlier farm. There was a large stretch of woods beyond us and the rest of the former farm was occuppied by Smith Oil Co. and Standard Oil Co. What these companies didn't know is that the land that they destroyed provided vernal pools of water for some species of frogs, salamanders, and toads to survive...along with a host of other plant and animal species. In the construction of massive tanks for fuel they also left moats around the tanks in case of breakage. These moats provided a haven for at least the Western chorous frog and the Toads to breed in after the winter thaws. Unfortunately the salamanders and other wildlife were left out. I remember that I was so determined to get to this early spring orgie.    I climbed a 6 ft. fence with several strands of barbed wire angled outward with hardly a scratch! Boy, was I scared! Once I was in I approached the "moat" around the huge tank. Everything went silent! Not only where I approached but it was as if all the frogs could cue each other instantly. To this day even though I live with similar frogs day to day and night to night I find that even though all the males (females do not have a voice) are in intense competition with each other offer very subtle cues that either stimulate a chorous or intantly deflate it! Of course I waited for what seemed like forever until the frogs resumed their chorus.

By the time winter comes along the frogs are no longer buddies! It is all out warfare between the males. Very much like the birds they rely most upon their individual song to attract a mate. Since the real-estate is limited to a few pools of water the competition can reach intense proportions. I am sure you have all heard of "leap frog" well it is exactly what happens when there are a bunch of male frogs in a small area! They engage in comical wrestling matches to maintain their suitable territories to attract a mate.

I appologize after hours of trying to get this computer to first simply accept a video from my camera like it did when I first bought it a couple of years ago then finally after downloading many mega bytes of upgrades as dictated and the latest version of B.S. I still cannot  upload a 30 second video for you to watch and HEAR...thus I consider this effort as a total failure. I have done the best that I can to offer pathetic substitutes to what I had hoped to deliver!