A Froggy Tale

At some point during The Flood (this past mid-October through mid-May in the NW), a frog made it's way into my back yard. Like the rest of us, it must have just believed the rain and water would never go away, and that my back yard would forever be a puddle of water. Unfortunately for him though, it dried up. Last week we heard the frog for the first time. Very loud, right outside my kitchen. Esperanza and I spent several days looking for what we thought was a toad. Each time we tip-toed out the back door to look for him, it stopped talkin and we couldn't find it. I actually thought it sounded more like a toad with it's loud, deep voice. And the very little I think I know about frogs & toads is that frogs live near water, toads not necessarily.

We were eventually suprised to find this little frog, far from a toad, hanging out in a little plastic table contraption of Esperanza's that had collected rain water in it. For two days it was there. Water supply was good and so were all the little tiny bugs for it to eat. On one of those days, my friend Alisha tried to convince Esperanza to kiss the frog so it so it would turn into a prince. There was definately a look of consideration on her face, but no kiss or prince.

Then one day, the frog was gone. Good, it found it's way home, away from the torture from Esperanza, I thought. Then it was back a few hours later. It soon occured to me that this was possibly the only pool of water that it could find. And it was quickly drying up since the rain had been replaced with the sun. I waited one more day thinking he'd at least find the storm drain that would take him out to the river. He did disappear once more, but then reappeared again. He kept talking too. He was asking for help. Seriously, I kinda believe that the frog began to cry out for help when the rainy days turned dry and he didn't know what to do. Yes, thats me getting all froggy sentimental and assuming a frog actually cried out for me to help him.

So, we packed the frog up and took a walk to the river to set him free...

See him? Here's there, hard to find, which is a true sign that this is his home.
Then we ran around the park and enjoyed the sunny day...

I seriously despise this picture of me! Not sure why I'm even making it public. I've never described myself with this word, but I really look fat here. A rare moment that we must remember.