Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog

Yesterday morning, my sister and I had CPR/First Aid certification for our summer camp job, so we were up early. As we were getting ready, our mom had let our dog out. He, of course, was taking his good old time coming in, but my mom noticed that he seemed to be looking at something in the driveway. So, she went out on the porch to see what he was doing and saw him tiptoeing around and sniffing something. I heard her say, "Murphy, get back!...what is that?" (Murphy has a tendency to eat random things, so we have to watch him.)

I went outside into the driveway to see what it was and it was a bullfrog! I got Murphy in the house and called my sister out to see it. He was pretty big! We could hear Murphy jumping and whining at the screen door (surely he was jealous, because when we came in, he sniffed us like crazy...as if we were out there petting the thing or something!). I grab my camera phone to take a picture and then we tried to figure out if it is still alive.


Kelli skipped a small pebble in its direction (not to hit it...just to see if it would move). The pebble doesn't hit it but kinda skips right by it. Nothing. I also noticed that it wasn't making any sounds or blinking its eyes, and the pouch at its throat wasn't moving at all. So, we figured it was dead and went back in the house. A half-hour later, when Kelli and I went back outside to leave, the frog was gone. We don't know where Mr. Frog came from or where it went, although we do have some creeks in town (but not near my house). Hopefully he made it to the water safely though!

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Total Eclipse of the Sun


While many of us in the United States were still asleep early this morning, there was a total eclipse of the sun visible to some parts of the world stretching from South America eastward to Asia. NASA has a lot of information available on their website, along with pictures and video clips.
Here is a short blurb from NASA:

This year's eclipse is also special because the total phase lasts over 4 minutes at the center of the path. This is quite long for a total solar eclipse since most last just a minute or two. The next total eclipse,on August 1, 2008, will be seen in northern Canada, Greenland, Siberia, Mongolia and northern China. It will last about 2 minutes. The next total eclipse visible from the United States won’t happen until August 21, 2017.


At Exploratorium.edu, you can view an archived webcast of the event in addition to reading a wealth of information regarding the eclipse. There, you can also see an image explaining the narrow path of totality.

Finally, ABC News has a brief slideshow of pictures for viewing here.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

A Hairy Lobster?

See for yourself...


Yes...a hairy lobster...he's blonde and blind. I've been hearing about this for a few days and I still find it so unbelievable, but yet so interesting. It does make my skin crawl when I look at it, though. If you are so inclined, you can read a short article here.