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I had an interesting day yesterday. I drove, with my Mom, to Northumberland, Pennsylvania, to pick up my Great Aunt Doris so she could attend Grandma’s funeral.

Aunt Doris, Grandma’s sister, is 83. She was either going to ride the bus from Northumberland to Baltimore or have her husband, Jack, also 83, bring her. Apparently Jack’s top speed in a car is about 40. The AVERAGE speed on Baltimore metropolitan highways is probably about 75.

We all decided it would be much safer for everyone if I just went to get her.

Grandma–her name is Thelma Saxton, by the way–was born in Northumberland. That’s where she met my grandfather, Frank Saxton (he passed away in 1985). They married and had three children. All of them were conceived in Northumberland, and I am pretty sure at least the oldest two–Aunt Susan and my Mom–were born there before they moved to Baltimore around 1940.

Grandpa, “Patty” to his friends, worked for the railroad. They were the first people on their block to get a telephone because Grandpa was always on call. It was a party line. They were also the first to get their own line once the party line became too busy.

Anyway… time is short. I wasn’t thinking clearly and did not take my camera along for the ride yesterday. Tomorrow, when I take Aunt Doris home, I will. Let’s see how many cool images I come home with!

Today is the day we said goodbye to my grandmother for the last time. She passed at a little after 2:30 in the afternoon. She was 94 years young.

As my friend Carol said, 94 years was quite a long ride.

Her three children–my mother, Doris, and aunts Kathy and Susan–were with her, along with my cousin, Shannon, her husband, Jason, and me.

She fought a brave fight during the two months since her stroke. I stood there, beside her bed, watching her struggle to breathe. She was strong all the way to the end. I was just about to tell her it was okay to let go, that the time had finally come for her pain to end, when she took her last breath.

Way back when Eric, now 18, was a baby, I’d often drive past a beautiful, flowering tree, admiring the bunches of dark-pink blossoms, wondering what it was. Grandma was the one who told me. She said it had always been one of her favorite flowering trees. It is one of my favorites, too.

Since that day, seeing a flowering crape myrtle tree, like that pictured here, always makes me think of Grandma. She and I shared a lot of laughs over the years.

She was a wonderful lady. A fixture in our lives over the years. She’ll really be missed.

I was looking for some info about toads this morning–on the Internet, of course–when I realized many people don’t know how to tell the difference between a frog and a toad. So I figured I’d take a moment to enlighten everyone.

Though this will probably just confuse you more, all toads are actually frogs. Remember the classification scheme or “taxonomy” you learned about in high school biology? Frogs and toads are in the same order…

• Kingdom = Animalia
• Phylum = Chordata
• Class = Amphibia
• Order = Anura (frogs and toads)
• Family = Bufonidae

It is when they get to “family” that things change. The critters, like those seen on the right, most people think of as toads are part of the Bufonidae family, also known as true toads. I borrowed the following text from FROGLAND:

These types of frogs are characterized by:

• Stubby bodies with short hind legs (for walking instead of hopping)
• Warty and dry skin (usually preferring dryer climates)
• Paratoid (or poison) glands behind the eyes
• The chest cartilage of toads is different also.
• Toads tend to lay eggs in long chains. (There are some toads (genera Nectophrynoides), however, that are the only types of anurans to bear live young!)

True Toads can be found worldwide except in Australasia, polar regions, Madagascar, and Polynesia, though Bufo marinus has been artificially introduced into Australia and some South Pacific islands. Besides Bufo, the family includes 25 genera, all of which, like the frogs, are anura!

Since a nice, side-by-side comparison is available at FROGLAND, I won’t list it here. Instead, I’ll end this REALLY boring post with my favorite FROG photo.

Again, there’s been a bit of a lag between posts. Sorry. There’s just not that much excitement in my life. I am not complaining, mind you. I have quite a nice life. I just can’t bring myself to bore you with the everyday tedium.

I did, along with Dear Hubby, enjoy a lovely dinner last night with Shannon (oldest daughter), her boyfriend, Daniel, and Daniel’s Mom, Cindy. We went to a charming little place in Baltimore called Arcos Mexican Restaurant & Bar. The atmosphere at the place is great; request a seat in the outdoor courtyard if possible. The food was okay, but the good company and great location made for a very pleasant evening. It was well overdue, but that’s a long story!

For those of you wondering about the title I chose for today’s post… I lifted it from a story my youngest daughter conveyed about her 7-year-old daughter, Brianna, my oldest grandkid. Brianna and her brother, Gaige (age 4), like most kids, bicker a lot. Usually about stupid stuff. Gaige tries his hardest to get under his sister’s skin, whether his arguments are logical or not. Sometimes, his efforts pay off.

On one recent occasion, when Brianna had had enough, she said to Gaige, “Will you cut it off!” Apparently, that is her hybrid combination of “cut it out” and “knock it off.” Amy said, when she was finished laughing, she had to explain to Brianna how the sayings are different and can’t really be combined effectively (if B. wants to be taken seriously, that is).

My next post should be more interesting. I’ll be away for a couple of days, but should have some photos and commentary to share upon my return.

Once upon a time, back before we decided to build a house in West Virginia, we had a decent lawn. Notice, I didn’t say “nice”? We’ve never really had a nice lawn. There have been times when it was pretty decent, but never nice enough that I’d want to take my shoes off and run, frolicking, happily barefoot across the lawn. We never had grass that looked as nice as the grass shown in the picture below.

There was a reason it was never nice. It is because of where we live (Anne Arundel County, Maryland, USA). We’re very close to the Chesapeake Bay. We don’t really have “dirt”, the rich, dark-brown stuff people grow stuff in. The ground here is a mixture of sand and clay. Stuff just doesn’t grow well because the water runs right through it. To make stuff grow, you really have to work at it; fertilize regularly, keep it mowed and free of leaves and, most important, keep it watered.

Mike used to work pretty hard to keep it looking nice. Then we started building that darn house in WV and the lawn got neglected. Pretty much everything at the Maryland house was neglected because all of our spare time, what little we both have, was spent working away in WV.

So, we’re finally done (for the most part) in WV. Now we can make the MD place look nice again. Our lawn was nothing but weeds. Mike decided the only remedy that really made sense was to have an irrigation system installed and sod laid.

Finally, we have a nice lawn! The grass you see in the picture above is our new grass. It is awesome. It is a shame I didn’t take any “before” shots. You’ll just have to trust me when I say it looked BAD.

I can walk barefoot in our yard and enjoy it! The dogs like it, too.

That’s Meg in the picture on the left. Usually after being outside for a short time, she would be ready to come in. Now, she does her business then lays down and makes herself comfortable in a shady spot on the cool, new lawn.

CeCe likes it, too. She’s our dog who, I swear, does not like having her picture taken (that’s why she looks grumpy). Unless she has to poo and/or pee really bad, she actually walks outside, steps off the patio and lays down on her belly.

Now, I just need to figure out how to rig my computer so I can see the monitor while sitting outside. Then I could work from my new yard office! That would be awesome. Working at home has it’s perks, but one drawback is that I feel sort of like a hermit at times. I hardly ever go anywhere. I even eat at my desk, which is really dumb, I know, but I am usually on a roll and like to keep working. Anyway…

This final picture of Meg pretty much sums up the way we feel about our new grass (and irrigation system, of course). I call it, “The Satisfied Customer.”

Oops, one more thing… the moose picture in my previous post was taken in Wyoming at Grand Teton National Park.

Woo hoo! It’s Friday! Better yet, for me it is a “summer Friday.” That means I am off work for the day. Only if I work four 10-hour days Monday-Thursday. It isn’t a complete freebie, but it is still a good deal. When I am actually able to take advantage of it, that is. Sometimes, there’s just too much work to do (my job is very deadline-oriented).

This Friday is one of those rare Fridays when I am actually off. And I just don’t know what to do with myself. I’m sure I’ll think of something…

Today’s picture is an old one. It was taken in September 2003 during a weekend trip Mike and I took to Lancaster County, PA. I found a cute little B&B online called Frogtown Acres that I just could not pass up! Me being ToadMama and all.

We rode our motorcycles up for the weekend. Sunday morning when I went outside to explore, I was delighted to find a pasture full of cows just steps from our door. I went over to the fence, said “smile” to the cows, and snapped this picture.

Most people don’t realize (and most probably don’t care) that the frog on the home page for my Web site is an actual picture. I PhotoShopped it a bit to add the weird plastic texture, but it really is a picture of the patio at Frogtown Acres.

You can see it in the picture on the right, as well as the cow pasture, which was empty at the time. It really is a cute little place. It is surrounded by Amish farms and the host, Joe, had some entertaining stories to tell about his neighbors and the Amish ways in general.

My father’s family is from Lancaster County. Although I was born in Lancaster, we moved to Maryland when I was about 18 months old. I am a Marylander (for now), although I yearn to be a westward-bound pioneer!