OK, now that's just unbelievably cool...

It's late and I need to head off to bed (just got finished watching Iron Man). We had an amazing encounter this past sunday with two yellow-spotted salamanders as we were moving a rotten woodpile at the edge of the driveway. Salamanders seem to have a thing for hanging out in wet/rotten wood, becauews the one I found back in June was also burrowing under some landscape timbers. That one was cute, but small - - only about 4" in length, max.

These were bigger. Much bigger. About 7-8" each.

They were both a muted purple color with bright yellow spots, though one had considerably more markings than the other. We took them out into the sunlight (they loved that part - - not) and Big Red got the attached shots before returning them to another under-a-log habitat.

Just another lesson in what is so terribly fulfilling about living out here. Big Red and Little Red got to see and touch these guys in person, and they'll carry these memories with them forever. These are just a few of our animal encounters; more to come soon.