Catching up 2 – frogs

Off I went to a frogger’s get-together – lovely frog room, good pizza, great company.

Epipedobates tricolor Highland

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Allobates femoralis – two of my passions reference LBJs (little brown jobs). I like them in both instances – there’s always something that rewards close inspection. Here, it’s flash marks on the thighs (not seen below, but obvious here).

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Madagascar has Mantellas – small frogs similar in some ways to the neotropical poison dart frogs. I’d like to put together a large Malagasy biotope vivarium – a Mantella species, a few Phelsuma of some type, and maybe a group of Uroplatus. (Also a Platycerium madagascariense + Cymbididiella rhodochila, but they won’t move around much.)

Mantella milotympanum

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One wall of the frog room.

Frogger’s BBQ 2010 edition

It was last weekend and it was great. A few pictures:

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My BBQ flickrset is here and some other photos are here.

Also making an appearance was an ordnance-grade veggie – the ghost pepper.  Small pieces were eaten by brave souls, but I did not sample. I enjoy hot food, but any pepper that causes your eyes to start to tear from two feet away will have to wait (a long time). Apparently, once you get past the initial shock, you get a pretty good endorphin rush.

Big weekend

Action packed! Fun filled! Et cetera!

Saturday, off to S’s for a froggers BBQ. His frog room, known variously as the garagemahal, the frog bunker and the frog pit, is looking great. Got to see some Chrome/Sisa Ameerega bassleri among other lovely frogs.

Not a great picture, but a fantastic vivarium. The contrast between the red bromeliad and the yellow/orange/green/black Tarapota imitators was beautiful.

Saturday night some frog folk visiting from afar stayed at my place. We had a nice late dinner in Portsmouth. Luckily the dogs were on their best behavior Sunday morning and didn’t roust everyone at 5 AM (just me) – we’d had a late night; I had Sunday night to catch up on zzzs, but my guests would still be on their whirlwind tour.

Sunday saw us all down at Black Jungle in central Massachusetts for the New England Carnivorous Plant Society’s summer cookout. I scored some nice Nepenthes cuttings and a short conversation with Stewart McPherson!!! I gushed, he grinned and was gracious.

CP guru and fanboy.

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Gorgeous N. hamata someone brought with them.

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P.S. – Gang of Four’s Return the Gift gets two huge thumbs-up from me. I listened to it (at probably an unhealthy volume) on the drive Sunday. The redo of Entertainment! plus the remix CD – yowza. Think I’ll play a couple tracks again and scare the neighbors.

The problem of leisure
What to do for pleasure
Ideal love a new purchase
A market of the senses
Dream of the perfect life