How cute! Gotta love frogs and toads because of all the bugs they eat. There were so many toads near my old apartment building. One even tried to go into the house with me! It was sitting by the door and I kept stomping my foot by it to make it move away. He wouldn't budge. So I opened the storm door and he jumped up on the threshold. I finally had to pick the stinker up and put him down in the grass so I could get in the house. Last Sunday, my BF and I went to visit a friend of his who lives in the country. He has a big pond along the driveway leading up to his house. On the way home, there were dozens of frogs jumping across the road. I was afraid I'd run them over. My BF kept asking me why I was stopping and I said, "Don't you see all the frogs on the road?" I think he thought I was nuts. He makes fun of me because I am in the habit of putting down my car window and yelling at animals, "STAY OUTTA THE ROAD!" I'm sure he isn't the only one who thinks I'm nuts when I do that but it sure scares deer and other animals enough to keep them out of the road.

Thank you bklyn-hydrangea, Vaseline is definitely worth a try; thank you for the suggestion. I haven't heard of that before. I do have a booming population of chipmunks... as well as squirrels. Those are real possibilities of my attacks. I recently have been suggested to use moth balls; anybody try that? The strange thing is, the place I have my foamflower, holly fern, and mounds of impatiens were right next to a low sitting bird bath... And after looking again, they seem to have eaten only the coral colored impatiens, not the purply or pink ones... could be just a coincidence. Could be a raccoon out in the woods... I definitely have the habitat for them....lots of den trees and fern covered creek beds. I also have been having a lot more armadillo activity...like digging out the bark of my decaying trees or digging random holes in my yard, flinging the moss and dirt feet away... big animal type stuff. I thought that my dogs would naturally repel the raccoons...but then again anything is possible. My yard is a critter paradise, which strangely enough I am proud of my organic ecosystem... but now I seem to have gotten the attention for every critter in the neighborhood! I don't mind a little activity; I would rather sacrifice a few plants and stay organic than the alternative... but I truly am being over taken this spring. Voles underground and other things above ground... they are feasting on everything I have. Fresh bobcat, fox, coyote urine don't seem to be doing a thing. I don't want to poison them... which may seem contradictory to my title of this posting... but I wish I could work with them somehow. I have been trying to plant things that are resistant to being eaten... but few things are as safely guranteed as my narcissus, alliums, or digitalis. Thanks for your response, it helps knowing I am not alone ... and willig to try new suggestions if it means saving my plants! Happy spring, Nita

OOPS. Wrong board. Sorry!!

Oh, WoW! We used to see those beauties in our yard quite often, but since we got a dawg, they don't come around much. These shots are kinda like the ones I got of the deer on my septic tank the other day. Had to shoot through the dusty window in low light. They're a'ight, but I'm still pursuing the money shot. 8-] I think yours came out right nice, all things considered. I missed my chance of shooting a grey fox with my camcorder. When I moved from one window to another, I didn't press the on/off button hard enough. I got some nice footage of my feet sprinting across the carpet and ended up pointing an OFF camera out the window. LOL! ICA, Sophie ^i^