Reasons to Smile

It’s Monday, at least ten degrees warmer than yesterday morning (hurray), the previously undefeated Patriots lost in the Super Bowl, snow is falling, U.N. specialists estimate 60 acres of tropical forest are felled worldwide every minute, and the President just announced his 3.1 TRILLION dollars budget for 2009… lots of guns, bombs, missiles, security contractors, and WMDs, but next to nothing for the poor, elderly, or sick… and cuts or a spending freeze for scientific research, public education, and transportation (roads, bridges, etc.). How do you like those priorities!? So it was with great relief that I opened an e-mail from our friends Lee and Melanie who are spending four months south of the border (the U.S. border) in Mexico. The photos were a delight (I’ll include some of Melanie’s pictures and her captions). And then there was the BBC story about six abandoned kittens that were adopted by a pet rabbit named “Summer.” In serious times like these, it helps to know there are still things out there that can bring a smile and laughter... well maybe not in the case of the frog - snake drama. Thanks Melanie.

I heard what sounded like a shrill bird nearby, I had my camera around my neck and found the source of the cries at eye level, just outside our door. I was surprised, first to see not a bird, but this frog, which I immediately photographed, and then a split second later, was shocked to see the vine snake! (It blended into he plants completely.) It had its jaws around the frog's hind end. Since the frog was still very much alive and vocal, I shook the stem of the plant and the frog fell and hopped quickly away! The snake "reared up" and stared right at me! Oh, he was none too happy! I felt guilty for messing with Mother Nature, but I'd never heard a frog "scream" before! (For scale, the frog was about 4 inches long, the snake 4 feet.)

On a funnier note, this rooster hopped up on the side of a truck-bed rail and began admiring his reflection in the dusty back window, He'd puff out his feathers and strut back and forth, always going back for another look!

Saw this on a Canadian friend's van down here and I want one!
It says it all.

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