Cleon was certainly surprised!
I have a small greenhouse which I love. If any of you are thinking about getting one, I would recommend you do. Mine is attached to the side of our garage and has an entrance into the garage where my potting tables and all my gardening stuff is. There is nothing like going out into a greenhouse on a cold blustery day and seeing growing green plants – some in bloom. Or if you are sad, depressed, anxious, just unhappy, even angry – the greenhouse is such a cure-all for every bad mood. It is a place to just breathe – and smile. If any of you have questions about greenhouses, what grows well, what about winter heat – anything – use the Public Forum and I would be happy to answer. I like talking about plants and gardening as much as I like to talk about birds – and these topics are very much related.
Cleon usually opens and closes the greenhouse on the the days it is needed. Besides the door into the garage, there is a Dutch door and two side windows. I keep the bottom of the Dutch doors closed almost 100% of the time. We are a bit snaky here – especially garter snakes, black snakes, northern water snakes, and racers. None are poisonous, but I do not want a snake in the greenhouse, so the bottom half of the Dutch doors are closed. Cleon opens the top halves on warm sunny days. Imagine his surprise when he opened those doors a few days ago and someone was looking right back at him!
I think this is a Gray Tree Frog. Tiny. Maybe an inch long. And I am sure you will all agree – sooooooo cute!!! They are common here in central Illinois and this is not the first one I have seen – but it is rare to see them and my guess is that is because they are so small and brownish. It would be hard to distinguish them from bark on a tree. This one was sitting in the recess of the Dutch door window – he is that tiny.
When I went out into the greenhouse just yesterday, it was there again. This time up in the upper corner of the greenhouse. I hope it feels at home! Tree frogs do hibernate but I cannot imagine it will choose the greenhouse – although I do have a good-sized bay tree. So this may be the last time I see it this year as our nights are getting colder. I just wish I could let it know how much joy seeing it brought to both Cleon and me. Big smiles on both our faces!