trouble with toads

Well, Frogs actually. I just liked the alliteration.

Friday night I heard the croaking in the backyard. It was really loud and close to the house which led me to believe the little froggies had hopped their way onto the pool cover and gotten trapped. Our pool cover is a tarp that is weighed down on the edges with logs and cinder blocks because the fancy water weights thingys all popped shortly after we purchased them. Bummer.

Anyway...I went out to the pool with the net in an effort to rescue the frogs. There were FIVE of them! In my pool! I mean - ON my pool cover. Poor guys. Lured by the reflection of the moon and now stuck. But they probably didn't know it yet. They would when they tried to go home though. So I began my efforts to catch the frogs one at a time and transport them to what I thought would be a fabulous froggy place. A large puddle next to the pebble pile in the woods. Perfect.

I labored and felt like such a hero. I had to recapture some of them because they kept jumping off the net, so, yes...I touched them with my bare hand! Kind of freaky at first until my mental vision of 'fangy frog teeth' was replaced with more a more realistic 'no fangy frog teeth'. (I have limited experience with frogs...until we moved here.)

Now. Frog #4 was a little tricky. He kept swimming away. He was a big sucker too. I followed him around the pool until I stepped on the liner that happened to be pulled taut OVER THE STAIRS! In I went right on top of that frog. AND IT FREAKED ME OUT!!! Luckily, it was the shallow end stairs and I was able to grab onto the railing like a flailing crazy woman after a few seconds. But let me tell you - my heart was in my throat and I felt sick. If that had been the deep end with no railing to grab I'd have been a goner. Seriously. Bad News.

After I caught my breath and calmed my thumping heart I looked for frog #4. He was sitting right there on the cover. Like nothing had just happened. Or laughing at me. I couldn't tell if he was phased by it or not. I scooped him right up and plopped him with his three other friends and went back for the last one.

He was little, but I caught him with the ease of a professional who has been through a lot for the experience she has gained. He would not cooperate however and I ended up just leaving him in the grass near the edge of the woods because I remembered about the coyote I have seen a couple times running around. A wild coyote. Scary place I live, I tell ya.

I trudged back toward the house and see my lovely daughter standing on the deck. I guess she heard me scream when I fell in the pool. She was upstairs in her room reading. Bless her. Came to check on her momma.

Frogs "saved" (except for the whole coyote business - I didn't think of that), I went in and changed. Debating on whether to make this public or not. I decided not, but at the risk of much snickering and such, I did tell Brian.

But - I changed my mind about the public thing because guess who we saw last night in the pool?

ALL FIVE FROGS!

So the story had to be told. sigh. I have learned my lesson. What do I know about nature?! They were probably in there to escape the predatory snapping jaws of the coyote, eh? I left them alone and all but one were gone this morning. If that one is stuck that's okay. His friends will be back tonight and bring him a little supper I am sure. He may be a little more "jumpy" about fangs than his buddies. Har. Har.

,