Sunday- Sept. 13th- Arnold Arboretum

We made a late decision to get out and see some nature. We'd planned on checking out our Chelonian pals at Forrest Hills Cemetery but for some unknown reason, it was closed... on a Sunday afternoon. Go figger...

So, we went to the Arboretum. Herps were scarce, but we saw a few Green Frogs and even caught one.




But beauty is all around that place, as these photos will attest to...












Let it bee


Now, I'll leave you with a little lesson on Touch-Me-Nots

Sunday- September 6th- hey ho, let's go to Allendale!

OK, the weather was still nice so, despite being a bit beat from the day before, we didn't want to waste a good day. Come January, we'll be glad we went out even when we were toast.

Of course, Allendale is so close by that it was the logical choice.

We found a cute lil' garter who musked me like there was no tomorrow, but then settled down and became quite the model.




Snakes bring out the mutated, pathetic idiot in me...


Anyone else think that rusty old tractor parts are cool?



This fungus looks like the bass player in Dr. Teeth to me...


Let's close things out with a rare GOOD spider shot. shall we?

Saturday September 5th- WE NEED SNAKES!!

After closing out August with two full weekends of prior commitments and shit weather, we finally got back into the woods on a sunny and warm Saturday. Of course, Ponkapoag was our destination.

We were admittedly a little out of practice but we decided to walk the entire length and go around the pond.

The first herp sighting was a lovely little toad that made himself at home all over Andrea



Pickerel frogs were all over the place... the tadpoles have definitely morphed. They were jumping all over, though they proved very hard to catch. I finally nabbed one.



There was a massive water snake hiding in some reeds, sunning himself. We couldn't get a picture to do it justice, but he's in there...


We also saw a heron


and a pike


We took the boardwalk through the bog for the first time this year. It was beautiful, as usual. There were a few snakes out and about, like this fella...


and some cool pitcher plants.


Still, we hadn't caught a snake. We were so out of practice. I was going to flip a stone when I looked back and saw Andrea causing a commotion about 20 feet behind me. She'd grabbed a garter that was in the process of biting the shit out of her. She released him and he stayed his ground, striking and looking fierce!

Truthfully, it was amusing because he was pretty small.


We saw a redback enjoying some dampness under a log.


And I finally caught a snake... a shoelace ringneck.


As we were leaving, this green frog bid us farewell.


Maybe we were a bit out of practice but we had a blast and that's what counts, you douchebag.