A cold-blooded summer

Lindsay saw this turtle crossing the road. I left work to come and see it. I tried to pick it up but it kept snapping at me (really fast). I finally picked it up and it clawed me with his back legs and made me bleed, almost like a pin prick. I gave up and used a cloth bag to pick him up and put him in the woods. He made one final snap at me, completely spinning 180 degrees around and lurching about 3 inches. These things are not nice.


This was the first of two black widows we've killed this year. This picture is just scary.

These skinks are everywhere, almost no fun to catch anymore.

Here is a broadheaded skink, a little more fun because they bite viciously.

This black widow was in the kid's playground. We saw it coming out just before nightfall. Scary.

One of many types of small frogs we squish riding in the car after a rainstorm. Again, ho-hum. They live on our house and eat our bugs so we like them.

This is my most exciting catch of the summer. Every other time I've seen a bullfrog, it hops away so quickly that I can't possibly catch it before it disappears into a pond. I finally caught one.

August Night Hike

We were able to go on our first night hike for the summer last weekend. Its amazing what you can find when you drive slow out in the middle of nowhere. We went south of Saddleback mountain and into Harquahala Valley.

This was the first little friend we found.

With all the rain we have been having the toads were out in force.

This guy we would have missed without the black light. He was almost small enough to fit on my fingernail of my index finger (bottom of picture).

Here is the diamondback again. He was more than 3 feet long. Just getting warm on the street, we did not bother him too much...cause I guess they bite.

Gage caught this gecko that was crossing the road.

Cute Little sidewinder.

Leopard Frog...these are rare. I have seen a bunch in my life, but only caught a few. They are very quick to jump in the water and disappear.

Gage looks worried holding a big desert spiny lizard. He was actually quite brave and did better than I did with my first spiny. The first one I caught bit my finger and stayed locked in my knuckle for about 3 hours.