groOrganic's Online Garden Planner

I was given the opportunity to receive a 30 day FREE trial to groOrganic's Online Garden Planner.  As you all know from my recent past posts, I'm in the market for a good program that will take the place of my graph paper system that I have now.  Although, after much reviewing of program after planner after program, I'm beginning to think more and more that I'll be sticking to the pen and graph paper system.  In my opinion, the groOrganic's Online Garden Planner is basically the same as you can find at the Gardener's Supply Company, as well as Better Homes and Gardens (both of which I listed in previous posts).  so basically, it was a waste of my time, it did not do what I wanted it to do.  It doesn't allow for garden structures, it's more time consuming to draw them, than I plan, and I'm usually one of those kinds of people that can do stuff like that lickety-split.  And I don't feel that it's worth the whopping $99 per year subscription to it, either!  Alas, I'll continue to search for the perfect format, or, I'll just keep going with my pen and graph paper system, lol.  If you'd like to see my review of the groOrganic's Online Garden Planner, you can read it on my sister site, Thrifty and Frugal by Debbie...I've included plenty of links and pics and screen shots for your enjoyment!

Collecting my wild ties for Easter eggs again!

It's fast approaching...Easter.  The meaning of it, Lent, Ash Wednesday, oh my, it'll be here very soon this year.  And I've been hard at work collecting some majorly wild and colorful ties all year to do our 2nd Annual Tie-Dyed Easter Eggs again this year.  We LOVED doing them last year, and it was WAY more easier and definitely  not as messy as having dyes in cups with vinegar, blah!  here's the link with the super simple instructions on how to make tie-dyed Easter eggs...believe me, I wish I would've known how to do this a long time ago, it would've saved SOOOO much hassle...once you do these, you won't want to ever go back to the dye in cups method ever again!  Here's the pic of last year's, aren't they GORGE?! 

Here's a site that has LOTS of 'natural' ways to dye your Easter eggs...this lady says not to eat eggs that have been silk dyed, and I have googled this and many people 'suggest that you don't consume the eggs if dyed by silk.'  And I'm sure there are some dyes used on ties and such that may be toxic, but we may be in trouble then, because my kids ate some and didn't die from it...however, I'm not advocating the consumtion of them, I'm just relaying that my kid have eaten a few of last year's.

This site gives a GREAT tutorial of the egg dying process using silk ties, boxers, blouses, etc.

Martha Stewart shows us how to add lace to our decorated dyed Easter eggs...they're very pretty.

Get your seed catalog orders going, peeps!!

If you're an avid gardener or just starting out, you may choose to grow your plants from seeds or buy them already germinated and established, the latter of which is the easiest if you don't feel you have the time to sow seeds.  Either way, collecting and perusing seed, plant, shrub, rose, flower, etc. catalogs is a great tool to help you decide what you want to plant and where you'll plant them.  Most seed companies offer the catalogs for FREE.  Remember the old days, when there were literally only a handful (if not LESS) seed/plant catalog companies out there?  I do, mannnn, really showing my age there, lol.  Here's a few that I receive or I've just ordered:

• Territorial Seed Company
• Reimer Seeds (online catalog, but they're stuff is SOOO cool!)
• El Dorado Seeds for Organic growers (online catalog for email request)
• Johnny Seeds (GREAT, PRIMO company!)
• Burpee (tried and true, of course)
• eGardener's Place (you can request 8 catalogs from this one page, all at once, unfortunately 4 of them are out of stock, but there's 4 other great ones to choose form, including Jung Seeds!_
• Seed Savers Exchange
• Gurney's (another oldie but a goodie)
• Park Seed (they have 2 to choose from, or both)
• Henry Field's Seed and Nursery
• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (they're out for 2011, but keep'em in mind for next year) you can still shop their online catalog

ok, that's enough to get you going, but there' are OODLES more out there, just do a google search for free seed catalogs or free plant catalogs, etc. and a gazillion will pop up for you to request, lol.  enjoy and happy cataloging, lol.
If you know of a catalog that you'd like to share and have me add to the list, just let me know!

Got my seeds from WinterSown, plus bought 6 new rose bushes!!



Blue Boy rose





Blue Girl rose



While I was at Big Lots yesterday, I picked up 6 new rose bushes to grow.  The ones I picked out are VERY healthy, with LOTS of green shoots, buds and such.  We've decided to finally install our white picket fence that we picked up for $50 (what a deal THAT was, lol) a couple of years ago.  If we don't get it installed this year, it's gonna rot, and I will be majorly pissed, and the hubs does NOT want me pissed, lol (so he says, we'll see, lol).  Anyway, it will run down the hill to the creek on one side, with a gate the length of 2 fence panels so trucks can get in and out for the garden, then on the other side from the house to the idiot neighbor's horse fence he installed (in the middle of an upscale subdivision...like I said, he's an old idiot, lol...the fence story was in a different post, lol).  It'll have a small entrance gate to let us in to go around the house to my rose arbor on that side, and such.  So, long story short, this fence installed means I get to plant MORE ROSES!  and ya'll know I LOVE growing my roses.  I picked up a Blue Boy (which is actually a light pink to light lavender rose...see pic) and a Blue Girl (which is actually has light blue roses on it...see pic)...(they look very similar in color, but in real life, you can tell the difference)these are out of my color wheel for my landscape and roses a little bit, but I'm gonna try them and see how I like them...if not, they get dug up and my bestie can have them installed in HER yard, lol.  It's important to note that these two types of rose bushes aren't always easy to find in local nurseries, let alone Big Lots, so if it's one you'd like to try, you might look to see if your Big Lots has any.  The others I picked up werer other pink ones, and one more white one to plant near my other white one to even out the arbor. 

The roses I picked up are bare root roses (of sorts).  They're  the onese you get with the plastic wrapped around the bottom.  Store them in a cool place until early spring when it's time to plant them.  When I do this, I'll take pics and explain what I like to do when I plant my roses and to have large, luxuriously growing plants.

WinterSown seeds...got'em in! yays!!!  When you do the $5 donation with your order, they really send you more than what you order (not by a LOT, mind you, but generally a pkg of bonus seeds and such.  This is what I ordered:





Green Zebra tomatoes





Mr. Stripey tomato


• Green Zebra (they're green when ripe, with darker green stripes)
• Louisiana Pink (I didn't get these, they sent the June Pink instead, but they're basically the same, in that the fruits are pink when they're ripe)
• Legend (up to 1 lb, blight resistent, sweet fruits)
• Mister Stripey (red fruits with yellow stripes and a tangy flavor)
• Sunray (3" orange fruits when ripe)
• Tomatillo Purple (ripe when they're purple and the husks break...have always wanted to try to grow these)
• Tiny Tim (abundant red cherry tomatoes on a dwarf plant)
• Super Marmande (a French heirloom, w/red fruit)
• Sausage (6" tapered, extra long fruit...don't these sound FUN?!)
• and finally
• Wild Card (which is THEIR choice)...I got the Kosovo tomato...which is pink when mature)
• as a thank you, they sent me a pkg of Cilantro (my daughter loves this, not me so much), and a pkg of Pepperoncini & Pardon peppers (mildly hot peppers...daughter and phys. therapist loves spicey, they'll eat'em, lol).



Sausage tomato (cool, eh?)




Tomatillo Purple (meaty tomato)



So, basically, I got all that I asked for, with one that they ended up swapping for a different one that was basically the same.  YAYS!!  In all the bags, there's a few more than 6 seeds (they say they'll send 6), and with the peppers and cilantro, they gave me plenty more than 6! I can't wait to start them, get'em to germinate, and use my newly acquired zippered green house, lol (that I STILL need to run over and pick up)

Don't all those variety of tomatoes sound fun?  I wanted to pick tomatoes that I couldn't find other places, at local green houses, and such, and I think this variety will do just that for us...we love tomatoe salads, and with all these colors, yummmmm, they'll look beautiful tossed in a bowl!

My bestie and I are planning a seed swap, hopefully this weekend...will have to get my garden binder and garden plan in top shape for that meeting, lol.

UPDATE: I GOT MINE! Zippered green house only $20!!

UPDATE:  I went and picked one of these zippered babies up...they're not as big as the one at Lowe's...they're like 50" tall (2 shelves, I believe), but I went ahead and picked one up anyway.  I don't have a cold frame right now, and a hubs that probably wouldn't understand the concept of one anyway, lol...so it'll do for what I want.

I was at a Big Lots store yesterday and in the Lawn and Garden section (which, btw, is growing much bigger now that the growing season is fast approaching), and they had a zippered green house for only $20!! OMG!!  I didn't pick it up because I was in a major hurry, but I came home and looked online and it's not showing them having it!  So, apparently it can't be purchased online thru them.  If you have a Big Lots near you and have been wanting one (like me), you might want to swing by and see if they have one, if they do, snatch it up cuz it's not gonna be there long!  They're $58 at Lowe's, and look like the one in the pic!!

I would, however, MUCH rather have one of these beauts!!!  OH, can you iMAGine the wonders I could do with one of these babies?!  It would annoy my neighbor who thinks he has to mind my business to no end, what fun THAT would be, lol.  They're snap together green houses that can be purchased online at Lowe's website, and are between $700-$800 (which, personally, I don't think it's all that bad of a price), and they're 8'X6' and extensions can be added on to them later if you want them bigger. 

of course, if you live in an area that would allow it (city and/or county permits, zoning laws, sub. organizations, etc. tend to nix this idea), you can make your own out of some 2X4's, a few 4X4's and old windows and glass doors...they're so charming looking!  These would be much cheaper to build, and could use reclaimed lumber and windows and doors and such, which can be picked up sometimes for FREE on Craigslist, 3-5 bucks here and there at garage, barn, or estate sales, etc. THAT's what I'd RATHER have, but, as always, my idiot neighbor would have me in court until the end of time if I tried this...I'll wait until I have more time to deal with him to try it, lol (plus he's sick, maybe they'll move away or something and my yard will be my own again, lol).  If you make your own, you can add a rain barrel to the inside that takes water from the run-off of your green house to use to water your plants, add humidity and such (see pic w/blue barrel).

Isnt' this one beautiful? it looks SOOO easy to build, too...I'm aching to try it, truly I am!



While I was online at the Big Lots site, I saw these adorable metal pinwheel sprinklers...aren't they cute????  And they're only 2 bucks!!!  I can imagine exactly how they work, with the spinning motion.  I may just have to check them out to see if they'll work for my garden, I'm all about adoramous stuff in my garden *giggles*



Did you know, you should pick your cherry/grape tomatoes before it rains?

So, I posted below the FREE eVersion of the Garden Fresh garden mag from Burpee...it's not an eBook, an eVersion is totally different in that when you click on it, it opens on a webpage rather than a pdf to have to deal with.  You turn the pages just like a real book and click the  +  at the top to zoom in.  Well anyhoo, there's some super great info this eVersion of Garden Fresh, I didn't know for sure if I'd like it or not, but I DO!

Gardening tips to remember:

First off, did you know that you should pick your cherry and grape tomatoes that are ripe or almost ripe right before it rains?  This is because they're so small and ripe to almost-ripe, their skins are so much thinner, that when it rains, it's too much moisture for them and they'll spit.  Now I know why my cherry and grape 'mators always split!  and now I know how to keep it from happening again!

Next, I didn't know that peppers, all varieties basically, LOVE bonemeal.  I never really know this...did ya'll??  Plus, you should always let your tomatoes come to room temperature before serving with meals or on a sandwich for maximum flavor, as the cold from refrigerations reduces the flavor and fragrant chemicals within them, however they'll begin to run to their orig. strength as they warm up...cool, eh?

Pepper plants...this tip may have been my problem last year, as I only received 3 tiny bell peppers from a total of 9 plants, grrr.  Don't over fertilize!  Peppers are very fickle, if you over fertilize, they'll grow beautiful, green and full foliage...but you're likely NOT to get very good fruit, either in size or at all.  And you should never work in the pepper part of your garden after a rain or watering, as the moisture and water aids in the spread of plant disease among them and makes them more prone to it...I told ya, they're fickle little things.

Cucumbers....this isn't from the Burpee, but from me.  MY idea for cucumbers works beautifully....tomato cages upside down!  Plant your cukes in a mound, of course, then once the sprouts are a few inches, place an upturned tomato cage over the mound and keep in place with ground carpet secure staples (they're like reg. staples, but thicker gauge and longer pronged).  As they grow, guide them up the cage and over the top.  Doing this not only aids in support of the cucumbers, it allows oxygen and air to flow between them, decreasing rot and helping the plant grow larger produce.  It also helps to keep the plant from crawling all over the ground, latching onto other plants or in the walkways.  Believe me, it works perfectly.  My cucumbers last year were just the basic type, but grew to over 12 to 13 inches long!  This will also take care of most of any cuke mildew problems that may occur, I didn't have a problem with that at all.

Beans, pole and bush:  work with them only when they're dry.  They are prone to rust, which is HORRIBLE to deal with if you've never had to, trust me.  Rust can spread when they're wet, so work with them, pick, trellis, or do other things to them ONLY when they're dry!  and, of course, don't forget to pick them.  Picking them regularly encourages them to grow more...they can't grow another in it's place until the one before it is gone, ya know  ;)

FREE Burpee Vegetable Garden Guide

Get a FREE eVersion of Burpee's Garden Fresh Garden Guide, just in time for growing season.  US and Canada only.

You may notice a few things that are different...but you may not, either!

I've made several changes to Lavender Cove's HTML code.  I've previosly done these same things on my other blog, Thrifty and Frugal by Debbie, and figured I'd get around to doing it for LC too, and I finally have...not that I have all that much free time on my hands, lol, but what I've done was super easy and fast.  I want to share with you a few things...first, you can no longer right click on my pages.  This is basically just in case I forget to watermark some of my pics (like the rose pic below, ughh)...watermarking can take time, and sometimes I get too busy and I get too excited and just want to get my post up for you.  And, of course, there's obvious reasons, as well, such as poaching.  I don't mind sharing my information, I don't even mind you taking the instructions I give, however, it's when I troll the web and low-and-behold I see my EXACT words on someone else's website.  Use my info and instructions, by all means, that's why I share it, it's not patented, but by not allowing an obvious copy option, it makes the person actually think and put some of their own work into the words (sorry, not trying to be mean).

Another cool thing I added were cool numbering of comments inside cute little clouds, lol  aren't they cute?  this is super helpful, believe me.  I also, as you can see below, added a personal signature for my posts...in Lavender, of course  ;)   Let's see, what else did I do? hmmm...OH, one of the most important things of all!!!!  From now on, all links will open in a NEW window!  You no longer have to click 'back' or something of that nature...just click the link and a new window will open, when you're finished with that page, exit out of it and the Lavender Cove page you were on will STILL be there!  cool, and helpful, eh?  I thought ya'll'd like that one  ;)

While I'm in the updating mood, do any of you have any other ideas for me to consider?  Do you think I need a new banner?  I'm leaning towards one, but that one takes a bit more time.  What else ya got????  let me know in my new numbered comments box, lol

A new miniature rose bush for Valentine's Day

So many years past my hubs has always gotten me a floral arrangement for Valentine's Day...sometimes roses, sometimes a mix, sometimes lillies (I've had to explain to him that I LOATHE these flowers, lol, although our yellow tabby loves to eat the stamin in the middle and gives herself a red nose, lol).  But this year, our Valentine's Day was packed with dental appointments and errands.  So after dropping the kids back off at school after the dentist and being out all afternoon running around town doing errands, I returned home to a delivery from Fed-Ex...these guys, along with the brown box truck boys know my address well, lol thanks to my other blog.  But this box was different, it said 'Pro Flowers' hmmm, I KNEW I hadn't won a Pro Flowers arrangement, so I wondered.  When I opened it, I thought, 'awe, he sent me some sort of exotic flower,' nope, it was a miniature rose bush, very full and bushy.  This was so much better than getting a flower arrangement, because I grow roses, I love to grow my roses, and I grow them well, lol.  He took the time to realize a thoughtful gift that he KNEW I'd love and appreciate...a new rose bush!!!  you did good, hubs ;)

Isn't it just GORGE?!!!

I've ordered my Heirloom Tomato seeds!

I posted the other day about a new blogger I found, Mimi, and how she's starting some winter sowing for the first time.  She also (and I subsequently) shared a linke to WinterSown.org where, for a small donation of $5 and a SASE, you get to choose 6 plus 4 default tomato breed seeds (you'll receive at least 6 seeds, maybe a few more, depends on their stock) of 10 types of tomato seeds.  OH, I had such a hard time choosing!  I finally settled on these (hopefully they have them in stock...if not, they'll substitute with something to be a surprise!):

1. Green Zebra - 3 oz fruit ripen to light green with dark green streaks
2. Louisiana Pink - loads of round pink fruits, flavorful
3. Legend - up to 1 lb frutis, Developed by Oregan St. University to be resistent to Blight, sweet, red
4. Mister Stripey - 2-3 oz fruits ripen to red with yell stripes, tangy flavor
5. Sunray - 3" fruits ripen to a golden orange
6. Tomatilla Purple - ripens to purple, harvest with husks begin to break
7. Tiny Tim - abundant, red cherries on dwarf plants, good to grow in containers
8. Super Marmande - 6-7 oz fruits ripen to red, French heirloom seeds
9. Sausage - extra long, 6" tapered fruits, meaty and fast producer
10. Wild Card - this is left at their choice to be a surprise, will either be an heirloom or rare tomato seeds NOT listed for choice on their list

Don't these sound FUN????  my only problem?  I have NEVER had any luck beginning my plants indoors...I always forget the poor buggers,  :(   I'll will try  my best to treat them better this time around, lol

Lavender Cove has received it's FIRST blogger award!

I was super excited to read the comment down below from Misty, over at Misty's Thoughts Too, saying that she was passing the Stylish Blogger Award to Lavender Cove!!  OMG, super cool!  Thank you so much, Misty.  I hereby happily and enthusiastically ACCEPT, lol!!  She also gave the Stylish Blogger Award to my other blog, Thrift and Frugal by Debbie, and I want to thank her for that, as well.  Stay tuned to my full award acceptance post, along with the 15 blogs I'll pass it on to.  THANKS AGAIN, Misty!!

Lavender Cove has visited their FIRST blog hop! yays!

I've linked Lavender Cove up to a few blog hops, finally decided to build a following, YAYS!  and just in time to prepare for Spring and gardening, double YAYS! lol  followers, I ALWAYS follow back!! just make sure to leave a comment with your link-back so I can return the favor...thanks! and enjoy hopping!



A GREAT resource with a Cause!!

I want to thank my new friend, Mimi, over at Gardening in the Buroughs of NYC, for turning me onto this great new resource!  It's not NEW, per se, but it's new to me!  It's called Wintersown.Org!  This great organization shares their seeds, many variety if seeds, for a small donation and an SASE!  They are a non-profit organization, that is making growing your own veggies, herbs, and flowers more readily accessed and available to people, urban and rural.  Mimi had ordered oodles of seeds that she wanted to try her hand at sowing...she recently got her order in and WOW, for $5 she got aLOT of varieties of tomatoes, and a few other types of seeds.  This is a GREAT way to grow new varieties, either not readily available to you, or to use as a new online growing resource.  Thank you, Mimi!  Read Mimi's post where she shares her Wintersown.Org story and see the pics of all the great seeds she received!  I'm totally going to do this!! totally!  as in, gonna send my SASE and $5 within the day, lol. 

Another thing I'm gonna try is Wintersown's type of cataloging of their seeds.  Right now, I have a box w/dividers and such, and this is a good system, but I think I like this catalog type of system better.  Here's a pic of one of the catalog systems used by Witnersown:

Wintersown.Org also shows you various ways of growing seeds, shares ideas and such on how to do so by recycling and using the products that you have on-hand instead of purchasing expensive seed growing items and such.  They even share their treasured heirloom tomatoe seeds.  Larger orders can be requested.  Go here to see what varieties they carry, and how to place your order.  I sincerely suggest you do the $5 donation (or more) type of order...you're getting a LOT of seeds for just $5, and heirloom seeds, at that...they're TOtally worth that amount and more, even.  By dontating, you help them to continue to provide the seeds and help other gardeners, either old hands or newbies!
 

We sincerely appreciate your generous donation.

First six varieties ~ Free
-
$5 donation for
 a gift of 10 Varieties
(6 choices & 4 defaults)

(as stated on the Wintersown.Org site)

thanks again to Mimi for sharing this great resource in her home state, NY!!  Head over and check out her awesome gardening blog, 'Gardening in the Burroughs of NYC'!  I happened to stumble across it the other day and can't seem to pull myself away from it ever since!!  Especially if you're tired of this winter crap and in the mood for gardening, she'll definitely get your mind going and get you antsy for Spring!!

now, all I have to do is decide what seeds I want...ughh...gonna be a tough one!!

WOW! Solar lights at Dollar Tree...which means they're $1!!

So, I'd not gone into Dollar Tree in awhile, and the girls like the vanilla ice cream and cookie dough, plus they usually have Red Baron mini pizzas...and all for a buck each!  Plus, I'm in the garden and SPRING mood, in case you haven't been able to tell, lol and I noticed that they have some of their garden stuff out.  I grab about six of the coconut liners, they had some of the longer windowbox-style pots, grabbed a few of those.  Then, I noticed these:

nooooooo, not the spray bottles...the lights lined up toward the bottom!!  These are the same lights that Walmart sells for $3!!  And Dollar Tree has them for just a BUCK!  They're black plastic, but they're the thicker more durable plastic, and the little orange tags are the battery tabs (I made sure to grab ones that still had them).  I can't wait to figure out what I'm gonna do with these, lol.  Since the garden will be bigger, I believe I'll install them along the main walk way.  Now, the spray bottles are Bayer Complete Pest sprays that Lowes had on clearance for just $2.08, originally like $12!!  they're still within exp date.  I don't normally use sprays, I usually make my own, because they're so much better on my roses and veggies, but we live next to this creek, and sometimes the hubs likes to spray the manufactured, more harsher sprays around the edge of the property line, so I thought this was a GREAT deal (don't fret, it doesn't leach into the creek, we don't spray it that close to it).

If you live near a Dollar Tree, BOLO for $1 solar lights!!  they're always good to have on-hand, I think anyway!

STILL in search of a good Gardening Program

I saw a tweet from (who knows) about a newspaper article in the Columbus Dispatch talking about how gardening has 'gone' high tech...which made me think that the person writing the article must NOT be a gardener.  If they were, they'd have known that this was a revolution, as well as a revelation, that began several years ago.  We gardeners have used computer programs to help us map our gardens for years..granted, we usually had to use a basic CAD or paint-type program, and the programs are much more advanced than that now, but it's not something that has just happened overnight, as this article makes it sound.




a pot of my Lemon and Thai Basil in 2010...aren't they beautiful??
mmmmand smell divine!


I, for one, am still on the hunt.  I dug up a program (well, 3 different programs actually) that I use to have, one I'd never opened before.  But they're all old, one is a Landscaping prrogram, and two are CAD programs, all of which are too old for my 2011 computer, and there were no updates available for them. ughhh!  luckily, on my other blog, Thrifty and Frugal, a company has asked me to review THEIR garden program.  It has an annual fee, to which they're waiving for me for the duration of the review...we'll see if it's something I like.  Stay tuned for my review of it, I'll post it on both sites for all to see.  I should be able to access the version tonight or tomorrow...I'm optimistic with my fingers crossed, lol.

Making plans...WINTER, GO AWAY!!

I'm sooooooooooo tired of this winter crap...cold....blah.....ice....blah.....snow.....double BLAH!!  I'm OVER it already, I was over it the first day of winter, yuck...HATE winter.  I want to move somewhere that's always warm, or at least warmer than the midwest, ughh...and then the hubs goes off and thinks about moving to a job in Idaho in the MOUNTAINS??? um, exCUSE me, but that's going 'backwards'...they may be beautiful, but their winters are harder and longer, so why the heck would I want to live there?  besides the altitude being HEAVEN on my arthritis and fibromyalgia, I just don't know if I could pull off living in a location that has a longer winter...I want aWAY from winters, not MORE of it, lol.  enough on that....

So, I told the hubs he'll be building me a custom designed potting bench for inside my garden this year...custom designed by ME!  It WILL meet my specs, it MUST or else it won't be what I want.  I know what I want and that's what I want, why would I want to use or have something that I don't want?  If I do, I wouldn't use it and it would've been wasteful on time, product, timber and hard work.  I also informed him that the composter needs to be replanned.  We currently use a fiberglass compost bin that I purchased on sale at Home Depot.  But that was last year and it's time to have a second compost area for this summer, or else I won't be able to access the good dirt that was made last year in the first composter...get the idea? lol  We'll see if I get this one this year, though...I may have to pick my battles, knowing my husband  ;)  AND, he needs to get my water barrel hooked up this year, cuz he promised he'd hook it up before winter hit and IT DIDN'T HAPPEN! by golly, I WILLLLL have my water barrel hooked up the 1st week of SPRING...bet me!

There's a couple of frogs in my frozen garden pond....see the pic (the white specks are snow flakes that were falling when I took the pic).  See the white one?  well, yeah, he's no longer with us in spirit...idiot frogs!  They just don't get that they will die trying to winter over in a small tub buried in the ground.  They need at least a slight current to help their metabolic systems along to remain alive, and in a garden pond like this where the pump is turned off and there is no heater, they will not survive.  However, with a few of the warmer days we had a couple weeks ago, a new frog moved in...how?  I have NO idea.  But when winter started, we had 5 gold fish in there.  We now have 3 and have only found 1 frozen body.  What happened to the other gold fish?  well, I got to looking and lo-and-behold, there he was...another frog.  He was laying on the bottom stretched out about an inch away from the dead frog, blending in, and the fish were trying to stay as far away from that side of the pond as possible (poor things, lol).  But then we got the ice and the pond froze over to the point that I couldn't get in there and fish the booger out.  He'll probably be dead by the time the ice thaws to get him, so nature will take care of him, I 'spose...sad though.