and baby makes 6! » Archives » A herp’ing we will go

Sunday the sun came out. The REAL sun. The one that makes everything all bright and toasty warm. Including the amphibians.

It was not a day to be spent indoors, so the 2 oldest boys and I took off for the creek to go herp’ing (looking for amphibians and reptiles). The “I” in this trio was hoping that we would not find any legless reptiles, as the ones we would most likely encounter at the creek would be the kind with fangs. I was hoping for amphibians. Creatures such as frogs, newts and salamanders.

This creek is not the tame one that flows through the city park. It is a real creek, that one must climb through tall reeds and coodie invested brush to access. For this feat, I am swiping Chris’ Mother of The Year Award.

As creepy as the access is, once you shake off the heebie jeebies (which includes cobwebs, the spiders that make them, and their dessicated, disgusting breakfast) and get to the creek, it is so beautiful. It is on private property, but many children have been fishing and exploring its winding path for years and years, so it appears that the owners are not too worried about the trespassers. Neither are the Longhorn cattle that graze along the creeks banks. LONGASS Horned steer. Like, impaling, Longass Horned steer. They are tame-ish, but one cannot be too sure when dealing with a cow that has a 6 foot rack on its head. Bad karma. Baaaad karma. They kept their distance, thankyouverymuch.

We spent several hours exploring the creek. We dug through leaves along its shores, looking for salamanders. We turned over many a rock, and sifted through lots of bright green moss in the creek. Nary a salamander to be found. Frogs yes. Loads of them. See the cricket eating frog? His scientific name is Acris crepitans, we think:

An Anole (Anolis carolinensis) tried to hide from us. See him upside down on the wood:

What is a day trip to the creek without making a dam?

More frogs:

And the lillies they are known to catch a few rays on:

After our return, we loaded up Mia and Quinn and took off to another place to hunt for herps. We never did find anymore cold blooded creatures, but on the drive home we encountered this well known Texas critter:

All in all, a great day.

Today? I am feeling old and sore. Could it be that climbing barbed wire fences and leaping across 5 foot river expanses repeatedly is too much for an old, decrepid chics body? Say it isn’t so, because with spring just around the bend, I see this as a regularly occurring Sunday ritual. Much fun had by all…even the decrepid mom person.

Parting shot….promises of spring:

***Psst….if you didn’t know, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them.