The frogs in our back pond are happy again, now that we finally got some rain after two months.  That pond had dwindled down to a puddle, which made for easy pickings for the blue and green herons, but the poor little froggies ...

Lungless Frog

This frog was discovered in Kalimantan province on Borneo. No surprise about the location, really, since all sorts of weird critters are discovered in remote locations of Indonesia or South America.

It has no lungs, and gets its oxygen through its skin.

Bickford surmised that the frog had evolved to adapt to its difficult surroundings, in which it has to navigate cold, rapidly moving streams that are rich in oxygen.

The rest of the article goes on to turn into a plea to save the frog and stop the illegal gold mining in Kalimantan, but talks about thousands of these frogs in the swift-moving rivers. Alright. They're in a remote area, illegal mining occurs there, and all that, but I can't really see that they're automatically endangered just because they've been newly discovered and classified as "an ancient species."

Don't get me wrong. I'm not in favor of illegal mining, or cyanide dumping. But it's a bit of a stretch to say that the pollution from illegal mining is automatically making them endangered, especially when thousands have been found. These streams are "swift-moving," so in theory, at least, the cyanide washes through pretty quickly, and isn't a 24/7 occurrance.

$2500 Tatas

Folks, get your Tatas while they're hot! File this under "What were they thinking?" I don't know what "tata" means in India, but here in America it can mean "goodbye," "booby," or "tit" (not the avian variety, either). A Tata is a cheap car manufactured in India, not breast augmentation.

I wonder whether it's any better than the old Yugo, which if you'll recall, didn't go. It's got a nice shiny logo, though.

Christmas Cactus 2007

Many Things

Many things happened today. I made a grocery list heavy on fresh veggies and animal flesh, but left off staples, since we have a pantry full of them. Didn't find charcoal, but was told it wasn't essential for this evening's BBQ. I shopped for, paid for, unloaded, and put away all the groceries by myself.

When it came time to light the fire, there were 4.5 coals. Sorry, but that won't grill even a single burger. SJ shrugged, as if to say "we'll just have to do without." Nothing doing, toots. I got back in the car, and got charcoal. Some things you just must do for yourself, if you want them done.

Dad called this afternoon. He has to go back to Oklahoma at some time in the next two or three weeks, and wants either me or SJ to accompany him, since mom really can't travel anymore. It's really my duty, but work obligations may not allow me to take off. SJ is ready to pinch hit for me if need be, even though he never met my brother before he died.

We have to go over tomorrow afternoon, for no other reason than we were summoned. There is nothing for us to actually do or help them do. I can't help but think this is a huge waste of our time. SJ doesn't mind playing nursemaid or shrink, but I sure do. It's a novelty to him, but I've been doing it nearly every weekend for the past 25 years, and I really resent being asked to do it twice as often to make up for the absence of my brother.

Sorry, but I'm only one child, not two, and I can never be two. Being asked to fulfill emotional support needs for two elderly parents as usual, and do fill-in duty for my deceased brother is a bit much to ask. I can deal with it if it only lasts another two or three months, but after that, I'll have to draw a line.

There are only so many days left that I can take off work on little to no notice without getting fired, and I can't keep jetting down to OKC every couple of weeks for a few days at a time, given hotel and plane ticket costs. I can't afford to keep dropping $3000 every two or three weeks, like my parents can. That's money I need to cover my quarterly property tax. I'm not willing to go into hock, and lose my credit rating and house, to play shrink in person. If it comes down to it, I'll insist they use the phone.

It's a rough time all around, because my parent have health problems of their own, and my brother's death made everything worse. I don't want to be a lousy daughter who shirks her family duty, but I'm about at the end of my rope, and any more drain on my finances can't become a habitual thing. I like tent camping, but don't want it to become a permanent way of life.

Rant over.

Short Shrift

I'm transitioning over to http://janeberesford.com/wordpress for a blog. It's just a piece of my domain. Between my brother's death last week, and trying to keep up multiple blogs, let's just say that Laughing Frog is going to get short shrift.