NOVEMBER 2009 #3: Tributes to: Andy Rooney, Organic Yard Care, Tree Frogs--- Maybe.

You might consider this post a bit of a clumsy tribute to Andy Rooney…..

A few years ago, after I started trying to increase the organic care of my yard, we had an explosion in the total toad population in the yard. And, some of them seemed to have simply no problem whatsoever also finding their way into the house, probably the result of my tendancy to garden and water in the early evening just before sunset, and also because I have the abominable habit of leaving the front door wide open while I am out there doing most of my yard chores…...All they have to do is hop right in while I’m not looking that direction.

This year, it’s not the toads that are all over the place. They seem to be on vacation or something. This year, instead of the toads, we are having an astounding abundance of tree frogs, and lately, I am running into them all over the place—- sometimes quite literally!

There is one good-sized one that makes a pretty noisy thump every night as it jumps about 10 feet from a small tree to the glass and window frame outside of our bedroom whenever we come in for the evening, turn on the lights and bedroom t.v. at night to watch shows for idiots on the idiot box. He/she—- the—- tree frog likes to hang out on the glass until the lights get turned out so as to be able to catch whatever buggy-type critters all those the lights attract.

Found another smaller one while pruning the seagrape out front, tucked between the leaves. It seemed to be hibernating, or something; it was almost white in color from being “asleep” and shaded for so long, or so I assume. Didn’t seem much bothered by all my pruning either.

Found another one on the carport, stuck in a five-gallon plastic water cooler jug it had crawled into.
Ewwww, we won’t be using that particular jug for hurricane water supplies EVER again, if I have anything to say about it. I will have to find another use for it, if I can think of something—- maybe compost tea in quantity….
“Jugged” tree frog was large and was still alive, but pretty darn skinny by the time I finally wised up to the fact that he/she couldn’t manage to get out of the opening in the top of the narrow neck of the jug all by itself, and I took action and dumped said tree frog out into the side yard.

Found another fat and sassy big one a while ago outside one evening on the utility room wall right beside the chicken’s nighttime kennel, happily waiting for me to put my pet chicken “to bed” so that the chicken’s warmth could attract the happy tree frog version of a free “all-you-can-eat” buffet of mosquitoes, moths, and flies, among other “tasty” things. He’s more than welcome to them…..

Found still another one, this time INSIDE of the house just the other night—- in the middle of the night in the small restroom. I had been up reading a long while, went in there about 3 a.m., flipped on the light…. Tree frog high on the wall waiting for whatever came along——not me though, I don’t think——totally freaked out when the lights came on, and the giant walked in, and started jumping frantically from wall-to-wall-to-wall-to-wall RIGHT OVER MY HEAD!!! CONSEQUENTLY, I STARTED FREAKING OUT, TOO!! Not much of surprise to you, I imagine.

Still, I was somewhat surprised that my nearest neighbor, who is less than a stone’s throw to the east of us, didn’t call the cops when I started screaming at the top of my lungs in the middle of the night…. It’s not like it’s all that very common an event in our neighborhood (fortunately) after all. Maybe, he has been finding a few stray tree frogs that wandered his way, too, though… I don’t really know.

Part of me hopes that this explosion of amphibians is a result of all the good things I have been trying to do in the yard. The other part of me is really a little bit unnerved by it all.
:/

-- Grew a lawn from sugar sand with some help from a pet chicken and the "ghost" of Jerry Baker. Rank amateur gardener, needs all the help she can get!!