Here’s what it looked like last night when I got through with it. Lit by lantern from below.
First I removed the original white tarp. The iron grate lid was frozen on and I didn’t dare try to pry it off. (Aquariums — you’re not supposed to torque them in any way. That’s how they spring leaks.) So then I poured boiled water down through the grate, into the middle of the ice surface. It landed first on the plastic jug, which was frozen into the middle of the surface, and spilled down around it from there. I was careful not to pour it near the glass, but some drops that were bouncing off the jug probably did land on it. I did hear a pop or two, which makes me nervous — I hope that was the ice breaking and not the glass, or one of the silicone seams.
Anyway, this melted a fairly large area in the middle of the surface. I lost my nerve at about the same time I ran out of hot water. Heroic Linda brought out our recently retired bedspread. We put the white tarp back on first, and then the purple cloth one. Now there are several layers of material over the tank.
It’s been well below freezing all day. Right now we’re getting a heavy dose of sleet, which they’re calling an ice storm. Snow is predicted for several hours during the night. They say we’ll be encased in ice by early morning.
I’m still not sure exactly where frogs hibernate, but it can’t be underwater! I’ve read that they burrow under leaves and mud. But I don’t know how any frogs can live through this this kind of cold — how could their tissues not freeze to solid ice, and burst? But… presumably they know what to do. It snows and freezes copiously all winter up on Mt. Hood, and every spring Frog Lake is full of frogs again.