Back in the summer I had one lonely frog living behind the Wool House. I guess he was lonely, but maybe he was happy back there by himself. Regardless, he hung out all through the summer and fall, eating bugs, hopping into the water collection tubs if I startled him.
I assumed he would go burrow down in one of the gardens when it got cold and all the bugs disappeared, but it really hasn't gotten that cold and the bugs really haven't all disappeared so I wasn't completely surprised to see him scrambling around in the bottom of his tub when I startled him the other day.
He did have some leaf cover and a small clay pot in the bottom of his "pond", but if we do ever get a cold snap, those tubs will freeze solid. Out in the ponds I believe he would just burrow deeper into the unfrozen mud at the bottom. In a plastic tub he'd have nowhere to go. Even though he'd chosen to be there, I felt I needed to intervene.
So, back in the summer that was December 24th, when it was going to be in the upper 60s, I decided that would be warm enough to move him without too much stress. Miss B's mom was coming over in the afternoon so I told her to wear mud boots and that we were going to do something fun. And then I said "You'll never guess what we are going to do!" That was the only clue I gave her.
When she got here I again said, gleefully, that she'd never be able to guess what we were getting ready to go do.
"I'm assuming something with the sheep."
"Nope."
"Are we going to go catch frogs in the pond?"
.
.
.
.
Who on earth guesses something to do with frogs?!? In December?!? Don't play guessing games with her ;-D.
We tried to just scoop him out with our hands, but he was too quick for us so we ended up dumping him into a bucket.
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And we carried him back to the Frog Pond. This is the small pond just before you get to the big pond. There were other frogs out moving around when we got there. Crazy weather.
Ready for release.
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He sat motionless for a bit, but then scooted off into the deeper water. I hope we did the right thing and he's happy back there. And I hope he finds his way back to the Wool House in the spring. I enjoyed his good company.
8 comments:
Frog stories!!
Sweet!
When I saw the bucket dumping into the pond (on IG), I figured it was about frogs (even before I saw the title for the blog post :-) ).
What a lucky frog, to choose you to share space with.
In the pond seems like the right place to spend the winter. Sleep well, froggy.
:-)
When I saw the video on IG, I imagined I saw tadpoles, which is a REALLY big stretch for December!
Crazy weather for sure. Although we had a random (wet) snow shower a few minutes ago, so I’m glad you got him tucked in safely for the winter.
Great story, Sara!
I've always known that you're a very good writer, but this phrase really stood out for me:
"So, back in the summer that was December 24th..."
Brilliant, just brilliant.
A frog release party! :)
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