My parents have a koi pond that my dad is very fond of, and it is as meticulously maintained as one would expect one owned by an 80 year old OCD German who was potty trained at gunpoint would be. At any rate, we have a frog in residence, who my equally senile doting mother has cleverly named “Mr. Frog.” Every day now this summer, she has sent a picture of the pond and Mr. Frog, and we play a sort of Where’s Waldo with it to find Mr. Frog.
It occurred to me that you all are as big a set of losers share the same interests as my parents, and would like to play along, so I am going to start posting them here. Here is today’s installment, and don’t ruin for other by pointing out his location in the comments, you bastards.
Another Scott
I see the common WV White Frog there on the left.
Ooops.
Cheers,
Scott.
dmsilev
It’s a trick question; we all know that Mr. Frog is under the willow.
nalbar
Too easy.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@dmsilev:
Mr. Frog is in all of our hearts
dmsilev
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): We are all Mr. Frog.
Ryan
Is that a turtle on the right?
Ruckus
How did my pet frog get to WV?
He’s been missing for about 2 weeks now and I’d really like to know how he got this far this fast.
He can’t jump that far to make it in this much time.
Chetan Murthy
@Ruckus:
We’ve kidnapped him! Now transfer 2 BTC to this address 0xdeadbeef, or the frog gets it!
guachi
Is there more than one frog?
And there are two things that look like turtles in the foreground. The one on the viewer’s right looks like a statue. But is the one on the left real?
Chetan Murthy
That’s a lovely garden. I esp. like the artfully arranged water-source-disguised-as-gourd.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Ruckus:
Maybe he can and he’s just never shown you before ; )
@Ryan:
That’s what I thought
@dmsilev:
LOL
L85NJGT
It helps if you click on the picture for a hi-res look.
Old Dan and Little Ann
I done seen it!
eclare
Beautiful pond…
CaseyL
Don’t they dote on the turtle(s), too?
Your Dad made a lovely little spot. I could sit there a good long time watching the turtle and frog and anyone else happening by.
Today a friend and I did a walkabout in Magnuson Park – a decommissioned naval base right on Lake Washington that now houses some UW buildings, affiliated research buildings and other nonprofits, a boat-launch, a tennis court/club, an off-leash dog park, paths along the lake, sports fields, and many parking lots. But most of the acreage has been left natural or restored to its pre-military natural state: wetlands, ponds, forest, hills, etc. A really lovely place.
There at least one beaver family living in the wetlands somewhere: I think I’ve seen their lodge, but not them.
Today I did see a river otter scoot across one of the park’s roads, getting from one side of a pond to the other.
Magnuson is a little bit of a pain to get to, or I’d go there more often.
CaseyL
@guachi: Taking a closer look, I think both turtles are figurines.
NotMax
Can you be absolutely certain she didn’t name the turtle Mr. Frog? If only to mess with your head?
:)
craigie
We had a koi pond for a while, until raccoons ate most of the fish. Very traumatic, it was.
Mary G
I think I see it, which made me happy because my eyesight isn’t as good as I would like, and I almost didn’t even look. Your father’s pond is lovely. So much green. We haven’t had green for what feels like forever.
Comrade Colette
If it doesn’t have red legs, I probably don’t know what it looks like.
Splitting Image
S. Frog, sir.
NotMax
Music that is curiously on topic.
;)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
OT: The #ObamaVariant is trending on Twitter. I guess because he had a big party for his 60th birthday and conservatives on Twitter are tying to “own the libs”?
jnfr
Wonderful pond. Thank you.
Mary G
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Yes, he put up tents bigger than his house! The horror! I am so tired of Republicans.
SFBayAreaGal
How do you know it’s Mr. Frog? Could it be a Ms. Frog?
Chetan Murthy
@Mary G: My response to all of that is simple: “He (and we) got vaccinated, you covidiot!”
BigJimSlade
@NotMax: I see your M. Frog and raise it by one Long Legged Larry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us3pCHd8PLs
There’s some great animation in this, and clever lyrics :-)
?BillinGlendaleCA
Oh, a game; this really is a full service blog!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Mary G:
Which means the party was largely held outdoors, too. And I’m going to guess the vast majority of the guests, including the Obamas, were vaccinated. This isn’t exactly like Newsom or somebody violating their own rules for COVID. The risk of spread, even with the Delta variant, is probably incredibly low under those circumstances. Bottom line it’s a false equivalence. And I too am tired of Republicans
Chetan Murthy
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
https://www.axios.com/obama-plans-birthday-bash-amid-covid-concerns-26278329-43be-473d-bf16-80b025e03912.html
Debbie(Aussie)
I think John could be in big trouble if his Mum sees this ?
I believe I have found said frog. Your Dad has created a really lovely area.
Vaccination has been a pretty hit & miss affair here. Especially when the advice became ‘no one under 60 should have the AstaZeneca’. Because of the numbers of infections are going up the recommendation has been changed to anyone who wants one, then the issue becomes lack of stock. Somehow we have got Moderna. Pfizer is not expected until October. Our federal government has been awful. Totally irresponsible. Seems to happen with right wing government & Murdoch media. Sigh! Hubby and I have has our first shots second at the end of September.
Really enjoyed ‘artist in our midst’. Beautiful! There are so many talented jackals.
(edited for missing word & letters)
Redshift
He was in the first place I thought I saw him and zoomed in. I’m not sure if I’m hoping for a tougher one next time or if I’d rather they’re all “where’s Waldo” level…
Tim C.
I like this game.
Anotherlurker
I see the Saracinia! Nice bog presentation!
frosty
We have a little fish pond also and for the last few years one or more frogs have colonized it which has been very cool to see.
I cleared out some overgrowth around it last month and much to my surprise I’ve created a birdbath! So we’re attracting birbs without having to keep a feeder stocked. Win!
CaseyL
@Tim C.: Yes; just the thing for late at night.
I hope future photos show more of the pond, and have more critter visitors.
I subscribe to Chunk the Groundhog videos on YouTube, and it is amazing how much wildlife shows up. Besides the titular groundhogs, and the ubiquitous squirrels and raccoons, we’ve seen possums, skunks, deer, and rabbits. Plus some cool birds; there’s a hawk who comes by for the fountain.
Yutsano
I’m pretty sure I found the ribbit. Or something that is very frog-shaped. I can’t be certain.
In other news…people continue to be disgusting. I can’t believe it’s 2021 and shit like this still happens. Even worse, that the Rockies are claiming they can’t find the asshole. I’m calling bullpuckey on that.
Chetan Murthy
@Yutsano: I’ve read that they can do the same with sounds in such a stadium: with multiple microphones recording at the same time, they can isolate from where a particular sound was produced. Simply for covering their asses, I’d think they’d have that sort of thing going all the time.
Martin
@Chetan Murthy: Can’t imagine there weren’t people pointing him out to the ushers.
Chetan Murthy
@Martin: Oh snap! Even in the Red states, family and friends were turning in Deplorable coup participants. Makes sense. Hope we learn the identity of the coward.
Chetan Murthy
@Martin: Though, reading this article doesn’t give much hope: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/08/08/rockies-marlins-racial-slur-shouted-coors-field/
Martin
@Chetan Murthy: Eh, give Tiktok/Insta a day or two. Someone got video or a pic of him.
HumboldtBlue
None of youse thought fit to ask Jeremiah?
bjacques
I think I spotted two!
Viva BrisVegas
I’ve had ponds in the past.
They never seem to last.
When Mr Frog comes to visit, Ms Heron is right behind.
After which Mr Frog is hard to find.
West of the Rockies
@Ruckus:
He made a time jump.
Dan B
@Yutsano: It’s horrifying that a black baseball player successful enough to be in the majors has to endure this crazed racism. What does it take to reverse the terrible trend of blaming “the other” for problems that demand solutions at the systemic level?
Our neighbors’ son Darren will be feeding our kitties, and hopefully watering the plants. I want him shielded from this abuse but he’s let me know he’s suffered lesser insults. I can only hold tightly onto the pain so I don’t dump any of the pain I feel on him.
sab
Not fair! There’s more than one frog.
JWR
Too easy. Mr Frog’s belly-up sun bathing in the middle of the pond, right? //
BTW, just sent Mr Cole an email. Was I correct in sending it to: john-cole AT balloon-juice DOT com?
Also BTW, I miss the old “Contact A Front Pager” link with the drop-down menu for contacting the various writers. (Or is it still there and I’m just not seeing it?)
JPL
Do I win something?
sab
@JWR: I am on a mobile device (Nook) and near the top on the same bar as the refresh button there is a ” contct us” tab over on the right hand side.
JWR
@sab:
Thank you!, but I tried that, and I see a message to: “Be sure to include a hyphen in place of a space between words in a name”, but no automatic email generator, using the default email program, which as far as I remember, was how it used to work, and the “Site Feedback” link doesn’t allow for a subject line edit.
Oh well, no biggee. It warn’t that important, and if John replies, then I’ll know for sure.
Nukular Biskits
Upon reading this, I couldn’t help but recall John’s “existential crisis” during his commentary about Cheryl’s departure the other day:
I submit that John has resolved that crisis now with “Find Mr. Frog”.
In all seriousness, THIS is one of the reasons I come to this blog!
v/r
Bruce K in ATH-GR
I was fooled by the stone frog on the far left, before I found the genuine article. In my defense, I was looking for Mr. Frog’s hat, but I wasn’t caffeinated enough to remember that it’s bears that wear hats, not frogs.
Central Planning
Peter Gabriel’s Kiss That Frog seems appropriate. My iPhone won’t let me add text to a link, so here is the trippy video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S4Ah2dxTcWw
Quaker in a Basement
@craigie: Likewise, here. They even moved the water return hose on the pump so it was pumping water out of the pond onto the ground and lowering the water level. Bastards.
MagdaInBlack
@Central Planning: Aww, thank you, I was thinking of that one too. Always liked that one.
Rob
I found it after maybe 45 seconds? I’m crap at the spot the lizard twitter thing so I almost didn’t try here. But I did and I’m glad.
It’s a lovely pond.
oldster
That was really fun. Of course, I am a bear of little brain. But I liked the search for Mr. Frog.
This is a service for your senescent readers.
Ken
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: Toads wear hats too, sometimes. It’s one of the ways to tell toads and frogs apart.
Nononan
You sure that’s a frog? Looks like a toad to me. Huh, Mr Toad.
randy khan
I was impressed to see that first willow joke was in the second comment.
I do hope this becomes a regular feature.
cope
I saw Ms. Fake Turtle first. Then I found Mrs. Faux Frog. It took a bit more coffee and some concentration before I finally found Mr. Frog. Thanks for the morning “wake me up” activity.
Because our pool is unlike most Florida pools in not having a screen enclosure, it seems at times to be more of a cement pond. Frogs are the most consistent visitors (ugh on having to fish the dead ones out). There were a couple of ducks that used to swim in it and egrets have been know to wander around on the deck, looking for snacks in the grass. Dragon flies (damsel flies?) do some kind of weird ritual over the water and wasps will dip down and actually sit on the water before flying off, presumable carrying a bit of liquid to help build a nest(?)
ETA: As NASA knows, if you are looking for life, follow the water.
Ohio Mom
This was a bit of an experiment for me. Before breakfast, I scoured the picture without any luck. Two cups of coffee and some carbs later, came back and I found the frog in an instant.
It really does matter what a person ingests. Now the discussion on what is best to ingest, that will go on for eternity.
Gorgeous garden, eager to see more of it in the days ahead.
Miss Bianca
“Find Mr. Frog” sounds like the title of a children’s book. Ahem, JC!
Elizabelle
This should be listed under “readership capture.”
BruceFromOhio
@Yutsano:
You may have heard this already: https://twitter.com/SteveStaeger/status/1424751806400323586
WaterGirl
@JWR: Contact Us is in the white bar at the top, but it doesn’t have a drop-down list.
You got the syntax right – now the trick is to get John to read the email. :-)