interesting sandy. i knew the vit k treatment but i didn't realize it was heparin! which leads me to my mystery, though i never would use poison bait. it is all this talk of rats and mice. someone is trying to move into my romeo's sleeping box in the shed. but my reason for posting is quite hilarious- he went to investigate why my 15 some pound bag of composted manure was moving. i am standing at the back door and hear "SQUEEK!" i wish i saw it, but alas i had only my tshirt and undies on and it was still daylight. hey, i work midnights, ok? :) i had a mental picture of it jumping in the air and squeaking at the same time. the big oaf ran out of the shed, belly to the ground, and wanted back in the house. that surprised me. my old man at romeo's age would have had his whiskers twitching in anticipation. so, my mystery continues....though maybe in the process we have discouraged our visitor. i also took the top off his sleeping box to make it less inviting. i have found no rear projectiles. i am also considering leaving the feeders empty for awhile. i would hate to do that. just sharing a story. i didn't want to start a thread just for it. it almost applies.

Had to put in my 2 cents on this one. I have two big themes in my garden. They intermingle and criss-cross freely. And I think they are both just a little odd, yes. 1. Historical Garden: Each of these plants has a story behind it, dating back hundreds, if not thousands of years. Symoblism and imagery. A rich and fabled history makes for a good garden. - Ginkgo biloba, sole survivor of a prehistoric order of plants. - Olive tree, the ones that Jesus like to hang around. - Bodhi Tree (Ficus religiosa), the very tree that the Buddha attained enlightenment under. - Myrtle (Myrtus communis), heavily symbolic plant of early Mediterranean cultures. 2. Botanical Family Match: I indulge my inner botanist and match plants of common Families. For instance... -Myrtaceae (Eucalyptus, Myrtle, Guava, Surinam Cherry) -Solanaceae (Brugmansia, Tomato, Brunfelsia, Potato Tree, Brazilian Nightshade, Night Blooming Jasmine) makes sense, right?? :)

Egrets here mainly follow cow herds around and eat the insects in the pastures, so they don't seem to have as much impact on the frogs at our place. But, we don't have cows, so we don't have egrets on our property at all, even though they are all around us. Maybe they're eating all the frogs and toads in the cow pastures and especially around the stock tanks and I just don't know it. We do have a lot of great blue herons that stand right in or near the ponds and eat frogs, toads, fish, etc. They probably get more of our frogs and toads than any other type of predator does. I haven't noticed snakes eating frogs here either, but that doesn't mean they aren't doing it. Most of the time the snakes here head right for the chicken coop hoping to get eggs, or a baby chick. Snakes are not especially picky and also like field mice and such, but our cats take care of those and don't leave them for the snakes. In some dry years (or just when spring is very dry) you don't see many frog or toad eggs and won't have many babies in the spring, and we might have a significantly lower population that year. However, they always seem to rebound in the next rainy spring. River, when you mentioned millions of toads on the dirt roads, that reminded me of another wild critter that seems to be in trouble here---tarantulas. When we first bought this land in 1997, we had tarantulas everywhere--and not just on our land. You'd see them in the road a lot, in parking lots, yards, etc. For several years---maybe from about 2004-2008, I didn't see many at all. They were very scarce. This year, I saw quite a few at one point, but they still aren't common on the roadways like they once were. I suspect all these wild creatures go up and down in population numbers and it likely is related to the predator-prey relationship. We see that here with coyotes and cottontail rabbits--when the population of one is up, the other is down. One odd thing we've had lately is large turtles digging holes in our lawn and laying their eggs there. In the past, they laid their eggs on the edge of the woodland, where the woodland meets the pastures. Of course, raccoons and other predators usually dig up those eggs and eat them. So, maybe the move to our lawn is an effort to find a place where the raccoons aren't looking for eggs. I don't know that it works since the raccoons prowl all over the place though. If they can't find food, the raccoons even come and look into the windows and sometimes tap on the glass to get our attention. I wonder if they're expecting us to feed them? (We don't feed them and we don't feed our pets outdoors, so they're out of luck.)

@teresa - ya saw right through me!! Baloney & city chicken were favorites growing up. I thought of some other Western PA terms: Slippy - when ice is on roads & sidewalks, it is slippy outside Red up - as in "go red up your room" (clean-up) Dun Tun - where're yinz going? Dun Tun to shop for shoes. Kennywood is open! - when someone's zipper is down Up 'ere or down 'ere - directional inference, i.e. up there or down there 7-Iron - shot of Seagrams Seven dropped into a mug of Iron City Beer Funny & true story: Went to Primanti Brothers for first time a couple of yrs ago. Looking @ menu at list of 'sammiches' I saw Steak & Cheese - #2 best seller. But I just couldn't find the #1 best seller. Asking waitress, she pulled up a chair & said, "Honey, in these parts Iron City beer is the #1...