Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.


A good friend has taken Dylan Thomas to heart...



Hulk, like his namesake, fought the good fight --- upon waking up today, I found him struggling for life...It was clear that he was going to die within moments. Another forced cold hibernation was in order, to put him out of his misery. My amphibian friend, you and your loud barking voice will be dearly missed.

Below are some photos of Hulk in his healthier days. As you can see in this nocturnal shot I took of him 2 years ago, he was a gorgeous specimen.


He did not mind being held at all...I think he rather liked it! [Probably because our hands were warm and fun to climb!] And he could change from bright lime green to a dark brownish color. My multiple personality frog.


He played very well with others. You might say he was a multicultural frog --- with a taste for bi-racial sex. Here he is with his lover, Miss Grey. [Yes, we actually witnessed his making sweet sweet love to her...when we interrupted them, he barked for an hour in protest...it was quite funny :)]


Goodbye, our friend --- enjoy that big tree in the sky.


Photo of the Hulk character is courtesy of www.outnow.ch and © Eigentum des jeweiligen Studios / Vertriebes

Labels: death, frogs, Hulk, Miss Grey, pets

We have temporarily changed the appearance of our fireplace...and it looks kind of strange...but we sure are toasty!!


It has finally gotten cold in Virginia and we were using the fireplace daily, but we were getting tired of lugging wood home every other day from the clubhouse. And then, after constantly having to run the heat in the apartment for very long periods of time to heat up the living room and the bedroom (at opposite ends of a long 4-room external-walled apartment) we got sick of how much electricity this was wasting. I realized that we were spending the majority of our time in the living room because it was the warmest room...so I partially closed off the rest of the apartment, turned off the heat, took out the very efficient space heater and decided, we are only going to use electricity to heat this one room (rather than 4 semi-used rooms) and stay there. Then, I got the great idea to hang a mylar blanket in front of the fireplace to reflect our heat back into the room (instead of losing it through the drafty fireplace) --- and let me tell you, WE ARE TOASTY!!! And using less electricity. Al Gore would be so proud of us. Of course, Noodle wants to know what the heck did we do to his fireplace?? [No more sooty paws for you, mister --- at least until the mylar comes down!]


Noodle and Jackie love their pass-thru --- it really is the best way to watch everything that is going on in the kitchen. Especially in the sink!

And so, our large family is warm on the couch futon by night and doing our work on the laptop in various corners by day. When we are not using the bed, the cats have decided to implement a quadrant strategy to divide the space fairly --- no touching, please.


Goodnight everybody!

Labels: cats, family, fireplace, jackie, noodle, pets

As you can see from this picture (click to enlarge it), the Hulk is not feeling so good these days. He doesn't seem to be eating and has had an ongoing case of froggy hemmorhoids...that puffiness around his butt-area is not normal. He is very deflated elsewhere and we are worried that he may die soon. Every once in a while, I am able to get him to eat a couple of worms, but not today (see the worm in the foreground?) If he wastes away any more, he will not last much longer. I believe he may be starting to suffer the early effects of kidney failure because he is dark and spotty in color. The only thing that probably keeps his body from filling with poisons is his soaking in his pool and excreting through his skin. Anyway, we are keeping an eye on him in his quarantine tank. We shall see...

Luckily, Miss Grey, Little Green, Fidel, Elian, and the Bung Monkies are all doing great. Little Brown died a couple of weeks ago (he got very weak and looked as though he may have had an infection - we put him to sleep - by forced hibernation with cold temperature - the most humane method for a frog.) So, with some luck, the losses to our frog menagerie will stay small.

In sunnier news...who says window sills are not made for sleeping?



Not this guy apparently! Peanut is just slim enough to fully enjoy any sunny window sill in your home. Give him a call.


We recently hung out with my favorite little chickadee...



We brought her Oma [German translation: granny) along with us to visit her and her parents for a belated Christmas...and let's just say that she was spoiled rotten! Especially by her Grams. However, our Black and Decker toy jigsaw toolset with goggles [called "gobbles" all day by her lol], tape measure and level, was by far the biggest hit! The set of wooden blocks from Oma was a close second though. Her feather boas were her favorite clothing items received by us. All in all, we had a great time watching her methodically rip the wrapping paper --- she's very into the process as well as the gifts :)

Labels: cats, frogs, Hulk, isabelly, Nutty, pets

Well folks, the testing posts have been deleted and we now have the real deal!!!


However, I am so tired now after all this coding madness with modifying my blog template, that I have no energy left with which to write a good post. So, instead I will post pictures of our cats...

Labels: cats, pets