Hi Everyone. Thanks so much for attending my presentation a couple of weeks ago on “Creating Habitat for the Pacific Tree Frog in Your Garden.” The post on Friends of Backyard Habitats got 597 likes and dozens of comments. Mind blown! I’ll definitely be doing it again in the early spring.
Meanwhile, in case you missed it, there’s this blogger I know of: Me. I will be dribbling out all the information right here — and by dribbling, I mean gradually, bit by bit, so that you can take it in over time for better digestion. In addition, you can send in your questions. I strive to keep my posts brief, frequent, and witty. One pithy tip per post, so that you don’t feel overloaded.
Here’s today’s:
I have so much to catch you up on. In case you haven’t noticed, we just had a snowstorm. Since I knew it was coming, I took the water level in my frog tank down to about a fourth and wrapped the whole tank in a tarp — hoping to protect it from freezing.
I left one end open because every spring when I’m taking out most of the muck, I find a new froggie under the water, in that same corner. I don’t think they hibernate underwater, but apparently they come for a swim now and then. I didn’t want to accidentally trap someone in there for weeks till I take this tarp off.
It never gets this cold here in Portland Oregon, especially for this long. But now it has. In the last couple of days we’ve seen 16 degrees F. I’m not going out there. But from my window I can clearly see a layer of ice at the water’s surface. It’ll be a miracle if the tank doesn’t incur a leak or crack from the force of the expanding ice.
What MIGHT save it is that I put an empty gallon jug in there. I did this last time it froze and it worked. The empty bottle, capped, gets squished in as ice forms — thereby giving the ice something to do besides expand outward and crack the glass of the tank, or bust the silicone seams at the corners. My own idea. I felt like a genius. This time it’s a lot colder. If it doesn’t work, I’ll feel like a dope.