House Toads

Given the past year's weather, incredibly damp, then hot,  the local toad population has exploded.  All summer we would see the little buggers hopping between the flowerbeds and the sidewalk.  It got to the point you'd have to watch out where you stepped to avoid scushing them.  By July,  I had  to watch for them while mowing certain areas,  otherwise the Scag was pulling double duty as a toad Cuisinart. (Toads, being personable and easygoing creatures,  I didn't like mowing them)

Anyhow,  that bit of back story sets up the rest...    For the past few weeks,  there's been this one big, fat toad that hangs out on our porch at night, directly under the light.  How he gets up there is impressive,  as I've never seen a toad (even one motivated to escape certain death by lawnmower)  jump that high.  He's managed to avoid being trampled or chomped by 3 large dogs in that time,  and has gotten quite fat as a result.


Camera shy toad:

One clever bastard,  that toad.  He knows where the easy meal is.  (notice the distinct lack of dead bugs on the ground :)

It's here.

Big yellow moon rising over the woods, crickets making more racket than the local speedway, and the smell of cottonwood leaves and grass chopped up by the lawnmower on a cool breeze?  Yep,  Fall has come to the Buckeye.

This is why I love this state.  Add colored leaves and it's just perfect.

NC2 AAR

A week later,  and I'm just now getting around to a recap...   As a "for the record"  for you folks, my lovely Wife   Blogs as well, and outposts me in quality and quantity,  so go there for Northcoast blogshoot stuff.  She's the one responsible for at least half,  probably more of the prep involved for this shindig,  to give credit where it's due. 

First off on the list of thanks is to Breda (and her mom!) ,  without her organization and cooking of delicious food, this wouldn't have been nearly as much fun as it was.   Mike also rocks,  for a dude that steps right up to help,  I never have to look far.  Thanks man. (and blog more, you lazy bastard,  you write good stuff!)

Special thanks also go out to Mr. and Mrs. Newbius .  The pizza was out of this world,  and the house still smells faintly of pizza parlor,  which is a glorious smell!  Thanks for going to all of the trouble to drag the fixins across several states to make us those delicacies, not to mention helping set everything up. I have no doubt you'll go far with pies that good :D

On the hostile stuffed animal front,  Bending Spoons  Had us covered.  Also gets credit for funniest blog meme.

I'd also like to point out how completely awesome Tannerite is as a business.  Newbius floated the idea of having Tannerite targets for the shoot on the Sunday night prior to the shoot.  I managed to not order them on Monday, which would've been the cutoff for getting them shipped from the west coast.  So, on Tuesday afternoon,  I had Amanda start calling the local distributors, only to find out that case price was close to double that from Tannerite proper.  Long story short,  Amanda called Tannerite,  explained the situation,  and they had 4 cases on our doorstep THE NEXT DAY,  for a whopping $15 extra charge.  Damned impressive customer service.  They didn't know us from adam, and still turned things upside down to get us the stuff in time for the shoot.   I can't give a company higher marks, and that's saying a lot.  And that doesn't even begin to cover how much fun the stuff is... 

A big thanks to those of you who threw in to cover the Tannerite cost as well.  It wasn't necessary, but very much appreciated.  The same goes to whoever helped out and didn't tell me.  You know who you are,  Thank you.


 Last, and certainly not least,  thanks to Old NFO.  You sir, are the man.  Thanks for all the help and sharing your toys.  I think you made Dad's day :)  

That's all I've got right this moment.  It was a fun weekend, and I hope everyone had as good a time as we did. 

See y'all next year!

PS-  We didn't get a chance to take pics, so if anyone has stuff hosted or wants to send us some, that would be great.




FTC disclaimer on the Tannerite part;  Do the letters F and O mean anything to y'all?