Living with herps

[Omaha Steve]

X post from GD

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herping

Herping is the act of searching for amphibians or reptiles. The term, often used by professional and amateur herpetologists, comes from the word "herp", which comes from the same Greek root as herpetology, herpet-, meaning "creeping".

I went to turn the hose on and almost missed this a few days ago when it was cold and misty. S/he should feel better today when it gets to 79F this afternoon.



I was mowing yesterday when something YUGE moved. S/he jumped to get out of the way. No doubt in my mind a yard service would have kept on mowing. As a thank you for avoiding mowing over this this creature, it ate a yuge horse fly between photos.

A few years ago I asked the DU about what to plant in my backyard that was low on grass. These purple flowers from the other side of our fence that are forest cover have filled in nicely. We have it in the front yard too. Anybody know what these little flowers are?



Above. You always hear about squirrels stealing from bird feeders. Here is a photo of the opposite. Marta took this while sitting in her chair when she was so sick a few days ago.

Below a sign of spring.

OS

[alfredo]

1. Henbit

It will take over the yard

[mnhtnbb]

2. When we lived in St. Joseph, MO

we had an old house with a full basement. There were window wells around the house. We used to get a lot of "herps" in those
window wells and the boys--who were elementary school age--absolutely loved climbing down in the window wells and catching
toads/frogs.

Thanks for the memories, OS!