The thrill of the chase...

Frankie seemed really bored, just swimming around all by himself. I decided to get him a few "tank mates".  I bought five little goldfish and, within an hour, he had chased down and devoured three of them.  Then I realized, he's probably never even experienced the "thrill of the chase" in all of his 20 years of life.  So that made me happy...even though I felt a little bad for the fish :(

Yesterday was my 2nd day in a 4 week "Reptile and Amphibian" class being taught at the "North Carolina Arboretum".  Last week we learned about frogs and toads [that's an "American Toad" in the photo] and yesterday was all about salamanders.  Did you know that the Appalachian Mountain regions has the highest concentration of salamander species of anywhere else in the world?  I had no idea!  It's been so interesting...I've learned so much.  In fact, I learned that this little guy is really not a "salamander" but a "newt"

So cute!  And next week it's all about snakes!  I can't wait!

And congratulations, Lynn!!!  You won those gorgeous leaf earrings from my last post.  Hope you enjoy them!

Happy Tuesday!  Love and peace always ~ Kathy

"Every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle." ~ Walt Whitman

Life In The Forest…

…so as of today, all of my strawberries have been eaten by some little critter and all of my hummingbird feeders have been emptied, leaving only sticky little paw prints on the glass containers. I can only sum up that it was raccoons or bears, but have come to the realistic conclusion that I do "live in the forest" and to expect anything less would just be unrealistic. But, I'm glad that I didn't insist on a garden {other than my herb garden}, since it surely would have been only to feed everything but us. I really didn't want a garden anyway, I'd much rather visit the Farmer's Market every weekend and come back home with a sense of supporting local farmers & my community.

Well, with the "Spring" everything else awakens, along with the flowers & trees. Like this Rat Snake that we found by our front porch last year. He came out to "play" yesterday and Ozzy & Lita didn't even pay him any mind! It was like they were used to seeing him or something. He's about 5 feet long and rather docile. I tried to take another picture of him, but he quickly slithered into his "home" under our porch steps! We decided that we would let him stay, since he will be good for keeping rats & mice away. Wayne even has said that he wants to become "his friend" and maybe even try to touch him! Now this is my husband talking, a city slicker from Boston! But I have to admit, he sure has quickly turned into a country boy and he loves it!

Now, if I can keep my "Hosta" safe from the deer this year, I'll be doing good.

And these are the cutest little "Newts" I ever saw {of course they are the only ones I've seen}

Off to the post office & the grocery store ~ Hope you are all having a wonderful Wednesday!!!

Xxoo & peace always ~ Kathy

Today I'm sharing a quote that my friend "Jen" sent – something her Dad said:

"Life has a flavor that the sheltered and protected never know, and I've tasted a lot of it" - Jen's Dad