Happy 4th Anniversary

Quarry Critter
Originally uploaded by KenCalvino

I originally began this blog just to list all the frogs I had in my collection. A way to get a handle on the almost 1,400 frogs that now populate Frog Central. Forest from Quarry Critters was one of the first frogs I listed and he made a return on the 1st anniversary, so I thought he should be the one to be here for the 4th. I can't believe all the frogs we've seen along the way!

The blog morphed along the way as a way to reach my friends and family to let them know what was going on from day to day. I added my own little personal musings from time to time on the mundane - the nonsense of life, if you will. I began adding pictures now and then of my surroundings, gifts, and don't forget the fruitcake! LOL

Of course, once my life creeped into the blog, that meant that my ever present dog, Shadow a/k/a The Frog Wrangler had to make a weekly appearance. I'm glad that the last years of her life and story were documented here. And the outpouring of support when she passed away this last summer was indeed moving.

I was asked recently what I was going to do with the blog now that all my frogs have been cataloged. Well, I've been adding new frogs to the collection at the rate of about 3 a month. While not a lot, there have also been some months I've added as many as 6. Almost all the frogs in my collection came in the form of gifts from friends and family. Only in the last couple of years have I bought some frogs for myself, but I never bought just to buy. A couple years ago a woman in England opened a museum and made quite a splash as having the largest collection of frogs in the world. She had made a world trip and bought all of them in about a year! Within a year she closed the museum and had sold all the frogs. That's not the way most collectiors do it. Instead, most do what I've done - my collection has been built frog by frog for about 25 years (or more!). What began as a single wide mouthed frog and a funny joke, blossomed into a passion for all things frog collectible.

I would say that the blog will continue much as it has over the last 4 years, but those years were marked by change - so I guess I'm not sure what the next year will bring.

All I do know is that I love hearing from my readers. Some have sent me pleading e-mails to sell them one of my frogs (NEVER!) or to help them find a specific frog for their collection. I try my best but I'm not always successful. The first week I started my blog I had 1 view a day. Today there are about 150 hits a week - and over 16,500 people have stopped by to check things out. I've received e-mails asking why I'm not more personal or controversial. There are a lot of blogs out there where you can get your political, religious, or whatever. This is not that kind of blog. I try to stay neutral as much as possible. I do have opinions on these subjects and I vent them on those other blogs that deal with that kind of material.

I will try to stay very g-rated as possible - non controversial. I am passionate about wildlife issues and will talk about them and being green from time to time. More salacious items will not appear here. So I hope you'll continue to stop by and I look forward to another great year of frog collectibles!