Green Frogs and winterizing pond

[Joyce]

Thanks Jerry.
And thanks for choosing me to do the banner art for this website.
(not to mention the teeshirts)
And I hope everyone sees now what I have been dealing with, concerning andyy davis.
He's been doing this for years, trying to discredit me.
It's all about jealousy.
He too is an artist and gardener.

When in fact, my resume is so huge and my reputation as both an artist and landscape designer is quite established,
at least locally here on the east end of LI (and NYC), I do not need a resume anymore. The head hunters know about me.
I get offers all the time.   
And instead of being jealous of other artists and gardeners like me,
around here we network and support each other.
It's the right thing to do.

Unfortunately now that I am battling breast cancer, I can not accept any job offers...
but don't be surprised, once I am done with this battle with the grim reaper....
some major changes in my carreer will happen.

And after battling the grim reaper...a jealous old man with a vendetta doesn't bother me.
He's just a bug on my windsheild. 

[Teresa]

Karen, Teresa made an abusive, derogatory comment. With no supporting evidence

I admit that my statement was not nice, but it was not abusive or derogatory.  I stated my opinion of what you are saying about the weather conditions being relatively similar when there are two to three zones difference.  I do not need supporting evidence to state my opinion.

By inference I called you dishonest . . . and I still believe that it is dishonest to try and convince someone new to ponding that they can safely leave frogs in a 60 gallon preform in zone 5 (or less, since we do not know exactly where in New York Ricardo lives).   It is a fact that the USDA weather zones are defined by average winter temperatures and each zone is about 10 degrees warmer or cooler than the next.  Therefore if you are 2 zones away from Ricardo, we are talking a winter average of 20 degrees warmer than him.  I believe you are 3 zones warmer which means 30 degrees.  If you can still publicly say winter conditions are similar then I stand by my assertion that you are not being honest with even yourself.

Rocmon is right.  Nobody is buying what you are selling and to continue to argue that what is clearly fiction might be fact is just plain ludicrous.

[Craig]

Well Andrew once again you are unable to refute anything of the facts I presented and instead resorted to an assortment of unprovoked insults.

"Paterson Field guide series, sponsored by the National Audobahn Society"

How does anyone have a rational conversation with someone that intentionally misrepresents the facts in a published source.  Simple things like even spelling the name correctly.  Of course, mine is copy is by Peterson and the Audubon Society.  Looks like you may have gotten your hands on an inferior look- a-like from Ebay.

'Capitalize' away if you don't mind being inaccurate.  The system accepted by the international scientific community be damned, "personal quirks" always carry more sway.  Of course, you do realize the system of binomial nomenclature isn't in "English".<g>

I have no need to argue with the Canadians or the fine folks at Audubon, we are in agreement on the facts.  And given that, I won't waste my time responding to any of your baseless insults you offer in place of fact.

[Joyce]

Seems like andyy can dish it out pretty heavy,
ie: name calling and insults,
but when he gets it back even just a bit,
he can't handle it.  :'(

It's simple: You reap what you sow.

And we've been pretty gentle, considering the nastiness andyy has dished out to us.

[barb]

Well, I went away for a few days and missed quite a bit, I see.   

I was planning on getting a pond de-icer, because I don't want fish-sicles.  Or frog-sickles either.    I don't know where all my frogs have gone, but hopefully they have moved on to warmer locales.  We have so many small bodies of water in my area that freeze over during the winter, that I can only wonder why we have so many frogs here, if they are in such grave danger of freezing.

[rcr203]

Wow.

Who ever thought people that partake in a tranquil, relaxing past time like water gardening would be so argumentative?

A couple of notes, though:

10 degrees average temperature makes a hell of a difference.  If you don't believe me, think about a month of 65 degree weather versus 55 degrees.  It's difference between wearing a t-shirt and wearing long sleeves with a jacket.

Ocean water temps, for example, follow the same general zones along the east coast, with water temps, on average, 5-10 degrees cooler in Mass than down here in Jersey, with NC being 5-10 degrees warmer than Jersey.  I know surfers in NC who haven't put on a wetsuit yet, when we've had to have them on since September.  There is a real difference in climate.

"record lows" really don't have any bearing on this issue.  Average temps are the important thing.  Most living things can survive a cold snap or heat wave that goes 10 degrees or so below their norms for a short period.  But they won't survive a sudden shift of *average* temperatures swinging that much (a permanent or semi-permanent temp change over a long period of time).

As it is for frogs - most have natural 'antifreeze' in their blood and can survive being partially frozen.  They are not smart, but live by instinct - so if they find your pond to be a good place to overwinter - as long as you don't change any the properties of the pond by reducing the depth, taking away debris needed for shelter, etc.. - they should be fine.

The frogs survived quite well *somewhere* before they found your little home.