Pollywogs and Tall Tales

The first 12 hours were eventful....sadly we lost one of our tads. Jude did not make it through the evening.  With each passing hour Miracle gained strength and now is swimming tale up!

So happy pollywog = happy family.  Even more cool is that Caleb noted (with his good eyes) that Miracle has his (let's just say it's a boy for now, we really do not know yet) legs...I was told to get my glasses on so I could see and wow, lookie that...Miracle does have some mighty fine little legs sprouting. Well I guess we are on our way! (legs behind the belly above the poo he do).

So we will report tomorrow any growing developments. This is a cool thing that Caleb is truly enjoying.

Day 3 Posting -added Dec 18th

Home from school, ran in to feed Miracle, Caleb calls out, "It looks like he is using his legs!"  We look closer and it appears that the legs are on the outside of the tail (fin) and looks like there are spots on his legs. They almost doubled in size...take a look!

Day 8

Changed Miracles water yesterday, dumping one forth of it out, leaving the rest of the crud...he likes it, he's a filter feeder and has established his own lovely ecosystem of goobly goo and fuzzy too.  He is growing but the water is not at optimum today, need to up the temp of the room.  Tomorrow is Christmas eve! What is Santa going to bring Miracle? How about Stage two food? Yumm Yum...and a bed (shell to sleep in).  Can't move out of this tadpool till we have our legs and have officially become a froglet!

Miracle today shows five fingers in his legs and a bend now in the knee. Slow but sure. His spine looks a little wider, rounded ...maybe.

Merry Christmas!

January 10th  ...Day 26

Metamorphasis!

Big news at the house...Miracle's forearm buds have officially popped..we have pipes.

Now we stop feeding Miracle as he will get all his energy from his tail that will disappear.

We are entering the final stages. Miracle will now slow down in movement, hover alot.

We read that during metamorphasis they just do not move much so not to be alarmed.

Check it out!

You can see his small forearms just bumping out behing his head but in front of his legs.

Here you can see how his digestive system is changing and the small forearms with what looks like two toes.

As soon as the tail disappears we can move Miracle into his new, bigger home.  He will then be a froglet! They are froglets for months till they are full grown frogs.

A Big Fish (Tadpole) Tale

Ok, its Minnesota and its Dec 16th…our 2nd shipment of tadpoles arrived today. The first arrived frozen last week!  We were very disturbed. Called GAF and she said she would ship again. I was very concerned because it is too cold for these little guys. Well…she said she would try. Again our mailman has proven himself not able to read, left the tads in the mailbox. It was 5 degrees out!!!!! My son, whom the tads are for, brought them in immediately. I got home 1 hour later with the tads lying in the transport bags looking dead. I watched for a few mins and thought I saw some undulating in the tail of one. Sure enough, I did. So I held the bag in my hand to further warm it. It appears that the water never froze…but it must have been close.

5 hours later one is on his belly, on the bottom of the tad pool, breathing and moving slowly around. Has not made it to the top of the water yet. The other is not doing so well, he is on his side, not really breathing much, his heart is beating and tail is waving. He revived much slower than the first. I am sure they both are suffering from hypothermia. The second one’s whiskers look to be broken off? Is that bad? Both are very short, about 1/16th of an inch.

So we wait, to see if they survive. We are praying hard…we offered a Novena to St Jude to get them here alive…well he did that…so one will be named Jude and the other Miracle as we feel it was a miracle that they have made it this far. All this is for a science project for my son….that is why they sent them in the first place, because it was a project. Otherwise I believe they would have not sent them as it is way too cold here in the North.

Hoping you can offer words of encouragement. I am guarded about the first 72 hours. We look forward to them swimming tail up!

Monica

'Tis the Season

I think you know the drill:
How to reduce your stress during the holidays

How to NOT put on lbs this holiday season

How to dress for the party

How to decorate for the holidays

Even...

How to crash a party ( I couldn't resist!)

and then there are those parties you should NEVER attend:

Pity Party

...feeling sorry for yourself? Slap yourself silly...this is a party for one.

Patsy Party

...blaming everyone else. You have only yourself to blame..you are responsible for your actions.

Pride Party

...big egos here...need I say more.

BTW, how do you get your head through the door?

Pig Party

...selfishness is not a magnet, so give it up!

Share the wealth...be kind, compassionate, and loving.

Merry Christmas!

Would you like some Sugar with your tea?

Well I really would but.........no thanks!
We know it goes straight to our thighs...what?
Thighs? I thought only fat went straight to our thighs...
Fat has always gotten a bad rap don't you think? 
Well I say a calorie is a calorie but there is so much more to this.
For now...let's cut the sugar.
I am a sweetie! Really!!! I love the sweet stuff.
So how about agave in your tea? Honey? or even Sugar in the Raw (very limited).
The point being , the more you get away from the sweet stuff the more the other foodstuffs taste sweet.
Naughty list:
Soda Pop
Even Naughty-er:
Diet Soda Pop...yikes
The goal:
Cut it out slowly...
Just say NO.

It's Crazy But.....

I did not go shopping on Black Friday, seemed trivial when

I know too many people fighting for their lives.

I feel gratitude for all that I have been given and

know my hope is in life eternal.

Peace.

Thanksgiving Story by Caleb

Once there was a turkey who lived in the countryside. It was almost Thanksgiving, so mamy turkey hunters were out.  Let me get this straight, I'm a turkey and I'm very scared of people.  I am so scared of people that I stay in my den.  This morning I saw the most delicious wheat so I thought, "Great, breakfast!" I wandered out of my den and went to have breakfast. I stepped 1 inch away from the wheat and, BOOM!, I was trapped in a cage with the perfect breakfast by my side. I quickly gobbled up my food and I knew I was in trouble.

I was taken to a butcher shop and while still in my cage I had to think of a plan.  I got an idea; I would try to peck through the bars.   When the butcher wasn't looking, I'd peck and peck but the bars were steel and I wasn't making any progress.  I had to wait till he picked up the cage.  The butcher came to me next, picking me up by the cage.  I pecked his hands and he dropped my cage.  The entrance flew open and I burst out of the cage.  Someone was coming into the butcher shop so the door went open.  I hustled out of the shop, scrambling through the city to the countryside where I found a wonderland of corn.  I started an all-you-can-eat feast until I was chased back to the city by a farmer.

I was in the city trying to dodge people and cars. I finally wandered into a pet shop.  Again, I got in because somebody had went in first.  I wet to a puppy playpen where I saw my long-lost-kidnapped friend.  He was a golden retriever named Buddy.  I gobbled until he came to the screen.  "Buddy!", I exclaimed.  He yipped in excitement.  "How long have you been here?" , I asked.  "Two months, eight days and seventeen hours!", he cried.  " I am getting you out of here so we can have Thanksgiving together!", I cried.  "Easy!", he said smoothly while backing up and getting ready to jump over.  "One, two, three!", he said nervously.  He ran, then jumped but failed to get over.  He did a face into the glass instead.  "Try again!", I demanded.  He did just the thing and jumped over this time, looking like McGrowl and landed in style.  Someone came in the door again so we walked out of the pet store unseen.  We walked back to the countryside and had a Thanksgiving feast on corn and grain. It was the best Thanksgiving ever!

Flu Fighters

Everyone's got it or has had it, I am certain....it's called H1N1.

What is it and what's all the fuss?

Insights of an Infection Control Practioner

Mexico, April 2009

One child

Family owned (pig) farm

Origin uncertain

Influenza, new and different, certain

New strain unrecognized by humans

Transmission from human to human

Could the pig be the melting pot

Novel 09 H1N1 Influenza is part human influenza, part swine influenza and part bird influenza

Pandemic , worldwide spread

Early-on attack in school-aged children

median age <25yrs

Late summer State Fair, MN

4H students become cluster of illness

Colleges see increases in sick students

October FluMist Fears

October hospitalized confirmed H1N1 cases only 10% of total tested hospitalized Influenza like Illness

November Injectable vaccine..

Attacking 40-somethings

Estimated deaths as high as 4000

22 million affected since April

Pittsburgh Childrens reports outbreak of rhinovirus

Could there be something going on besides the flu?

Yes, definately

November hospitalized patients with confirmed H1N1 approaches 50% of total tested hospitalized ILI

2nd Wave subsiding

Stay tuned

Sharing Photos on The Web

For Wannabe photographers:

Flickr

For Techies:
Picasa

For FB addicts:
Photobucket

For SemiPros:
SmugMug ($40 yearly)

Free accounts allow users to upload, edit, share and print personal photos from your PC.  Great way to get photos out with little to no work. I personally utilize picasaweb. (See sidebar) and intend on checking into myplublisher to create my coffee table photo albums.  Check it out!

I'm Back

Well I have to say the last year has been quite eventful....let's see...

I am not going to bore you with the details other than maybe something like FB took most of my attention away.

We are now offically into our oldest son's senior year.
We have survived layoffs but have experienced cuts...ouch.
Our youngest son is becoming a young man.
My mother is ESRD now.
My baby bruno is very endearing.
Caleb is a State Champ in baseketball, 9U.
Jake is a strong student who has his choice of college picks.

More to come...