Found a tree frog sanctuary while out bike riding, heard Spring Peepers.

 It was unseasonably warm today for a March 13th, with temperatures in the 70's, so I decided to clean up my Dahon D7 folding bike and take my first ride of the season. My ride takes me through a business park, which is usually quiet, and good for biking. Near the end of the road, where I usually turn around, I suddenly heard a "cree-cree-cree" sound - VERY LOUD. I realized this was the song of the tree frog, and there were apparently a LOT of them. You could easily hear them over the noise of traffic on the nerby highway. I stopped to take a couple of photos of the area with my iPod Touch, and also to record a minute or so of the sound with it. I researched the sound on the web site http://nyfalls.com/wildlife/Wildlife-reptiles-frogs.html, and was able to identify the tree frog calls as that of the Spring Peeper (Pseudacris c. crucifer). On the site, in addition to photos of the frog, are recordings of the exact song I heard that day:  http://www.nyfalls.com/wildlife/sounds/spring-peeper2.mp3
I hope you enjoy the songs as well.

3/8/2015 - SORRY FOLKS,  those links no longer work!  I just found a YouTube video of an actual Spring Peeper frog singing it's song here:  http://youtu.be/ZX9uODHi0zg

Gino's Diet Success 40%

 

Gino's LoseIt Diet Success Photos

Well, here I am breaking tradition. Instead of photos of snow and stuff, I am posting a photo of myself before and after my LoseIt diet.  I started the diet in January 2010, after leaving work in an ambulance - sort of a heart scare. I decided I was too heavy at 172 lbs with a 36" waist.

I found a free app for my iPod called LoseIt. I set an initial goal of dropping 30 lbs, and surprisingly reached the goal in 6 months. I then decided to go further, reaching 124 lbs (down 48 lbs), with a 29" waist in Sept 2011. Along the way, I took several photos of myself. On the right is a nice photo of myself at 128 lbs.

Since the "After" photo, I have been working out in a gym, and have developed a lot of muscles, and weight is up to 131, but waist is still 29, and I wear size 29 skinny jeans all the time. Not bad for age 66!

I hope this helps others on LoseIt to see yet another example of success.