Toad on a Stick

As some of you might know my other hobby is fish. I have 4 aquariums, a little one gallon "tank" and a bowl, all with some form of fish or fry in it but I had this wish to have a paluradium which is a tank that has land and water and animals on land and fish in the water. I came across another tank at the flea market, a nice octagon shaped tank and I knew right then it was my paluradium. I got the seller down to $25 and took it (Phil was shaking his head but...whatever). I didn't have any idea what I wanted to put in it but as I went along the idea for a waterfall came in. I had a pump, sponge filter, heater, and a few other things that were needed. I bought some spray foam and a terrarium background piece and I was off and running. It was harder than I thought it would be. The tank only had a small square in the top and the background piece (which was actually my separator between land and water) wouldn't fit so I had to cut it in half down a seam and hoped it wouldn't show (it doesn't). I didn't actually get a waterfall like I wanted because the foam moved back my slab where the water ran down but the water does trickle down the front piece so it still works. I added some plants from wal-mart and some "dinosaur" plants (some type of resurrection fern, I think) that I got for $ .25 cents at Tractor Supply plus some Spanish moss and some rock. I just picked up things when there was a good deal or I had a little money. You get the idea, anyway, I stopped at the fish store and they had a half water/half land tank and they had a gecko in it and some frogs--Fire bellied toads actually...and I liked those frogs so when the tank was finished, I got two of them. (Technically it is not a paluradium as I did not get the fish but there are some drawbacks to having fire bellied toads as their skin exudes a toxin that may be bad for fish).

I have added a few more rocks and some more moss going down to the water since this picture so the frogs can get to the water easier. They are not real fascinating yet as they hide a lot and eat yucky crickets (which I have to buy and maintain in the greenhouse for them. I dislike being touched by crickets, yet I have to get them out of my container in the greenhouse and into the frog tank--so far I have managed not to touch one) but they are getting braver lately and coming out more.

I know you are wondering why I posted this one here...well, as you all know my 20 year old daughter Michelle is not all on board with our self sufficient ways. She is always worried about any animals I bring in and if they are going to end up in her food so tonight when she asked what we were having for supper I happened to be looking at this tank and answered, "Frog on a stick. What do you think I am raising these frogs for?"
I immediately heard, "What!?"
He he he...

Home Repairs.

We have talked with my friend who is our landlady and have agreed to fix the leaking roof and ceilings with the rent money until it is done. Last month Phil started on the worst leaking spot which was over the bathroom and the front door. The wood and shingles on the roof had to be replaced in that area of the roof. Four sheets of pressed board and several bundles of shingles were bought and used. It was cloudy all morning and even scared us by sprinkling once but it was worse later when the sun actually came out as the heat and humidity were terrible. Unfortunately, I was not much help as I could not lift the sheets of wood up to him though I did try. I became the "waterboy" for the day though I did finally get out the "loppers" and cut back those peach tree branches so he could get up and down that ladder better.

While he was up there hammering the moldy ceiling in the bathroom gave way and fell in.

It had to come down anyway but since we were out of rent money it had to wait until this month. We had a ceiling of trash bags for a month but today was the day to fix it.

First it had to all come down. Just a really nasty job involving old moldy insulation and bugs.

It is rather scary that these double-wides are built with 1"x 2" studs on the roof instead of 2"x 4"'s .

Phil was all tough for a while but finally asked me for a mask. I had to wear one myself and had to take Juliet right out of the bedroom because she got to coughing. (He was actually counting how many ceiling tiles he would need here,  not playing with the led light bulb.)

Six trash bags full of ceiling/insulation trash came out of here.

The first ceiling tile. Phil became a little frustrated at the uneven ceiling joists.

With a bit more work, things got better.
 This is the box for the light/fan that he put in. No he is not an electrician but it was a pretty simple process. We desperately needed a fan for this bathroom. Even before the roof started to leak we were fighting mildew in here.

Here is how it looked when all the way in.

Ok, here is the mostly finished ceiling. We still will probably put trim around the edge.

Kittens!

The greenhouse and the pens beside it are part of what fences in the yard. Last night the hog broke through the chain link fence on the back of the pen that attaches to the greenhouse. She then broke through the plastic side of the greenhouse and broke through the door of the greenhouse which would have put her in the back yard again but for some reason she didn't go in the back yard. I don't know if something scared her or what. Phil did let the dogs out at 3:00 a.m. which may have scared her off. Anyway, this morning when Phil was looking over the damage he saw two kittens in the very back corner of the greenhouse. Unfortunately, there is a layer of chicken wire about 2 ft tall around the greenhouse under the plastic and then another layer over the plastic (except of course on the side with the pen as I never thought I would need it on that side) and the kittens were between the inside wire and the plastic. Somehow the mama had got them up and over the wire. I cannot go up and over the wire because there is a built in wooden table on those two sides of the greenhouse and there are pens built under the table (they aren't used anymore). I know, confusing, but suffice to say, we had to cut the plastic above the wire and reach down into the corner to get the babies out.
Mama was quite relieved and happy to come inside with them. Michelle's bed makes a much nicer place to have babies. We only found two and I hope that is all she had. I will get better pictures later. I don't know how long they were stuck behind the wire and didn't want to disturb them once they got to suckling on the mama (that one has always just been called Mama Kitty even though this is her first litter).