Confession time. I love frogs! I have this rinky dink pond out front that brings me untold happiness. It’s not even that great of a pond. We (hubby and I) dug it ourselves a few years back on Labor Day weekend and believe me, it was real labor! Our Indiana dirt is HARD! We slaved over that dude….and we even worked in the rain. Until the thing started to fill up with water and we had to shut down our two-man crew.
Once we could get back to our project (days later) we decided to dig down about 3 feet in the center and leave a shelf around the edges that would be around a foot and a half deep. We knew our lab Maggie would most likely venture in and the shelf would be for stability and to give it some levels of depth for our fish. We couldn’t wait to put in fish! And I really wanted frogs to come, too.
We went hog-wild crazy (that’s how we roll, ya know?) and went to Wal-mart and bought a dozen little goldfish. We excitedly moved them into their new home and fed them constantly. This was one of our favorite things to do (and still is!!). Once winter hit, our fish froze! We were so bummed! But we knew we’d try again as soon as it warmed up.
We did just that. Again hubby buys a dozen cheapo goldfish and in they go. We love and nurture these fellers the best way we could….feeding them as if they were all starving to death and sitting out watching them at odd hours of the day and night. Yes, we loved them. Only two survived so we just got comfortable with them and claimed them as our own. Sorta like kids. You fall in love with them…even if they’re kinda funny looking.
We go on summer vacation and when we return……we notice there are a ton of baby fish in our pond. OUR FISH HAD BABIES!!!! We were so excited, we went bonkers. Then the next thing we know they have more. Our pond was a fish love nest. It was so much fun watching this take place in our pond. We had a blast trying to count them….it became a sort of game.
They grew so much that we had to give some away in order for them to have enough space to party. They love hiding down deep in the bottom and under the many rock caves that we created. Sweetboy can actually feed them out of his hand. One time, his dad dared him to try to catch one with a fishing pole….HE DID! Talk about funny!
Each summer I watch for frogs. One year we had at least 3 different ones living there. Big ones too. My favorite kind. I have tried to catch all of them at one time or another. Remember, I’m not from around here….I was raised in the south….we have frogs, we hit them with our cars (NOT ON PURPOSE!). All up and down our highways are smooshed frogs, I know, gross! If you go out on your porch at night, you are likely going to step on a few frogs back where I come from. That was just one of the many fun things we did as kids. We’d catch frogs and play with them for hours. They’re really cool!!! Not slimy…..more like scratchy-bumpy. And fun to chase around.
Today I was out sitting by my pond when I notice a skinny little frog sitting up on the rocks. He was eyeing me, like he knew I was a professional frog chaser or something. So I did what any weird blogging mama does, grabbed my camera and snapped a few pictures of him. Here he is….before my dogs and neighbors 4-wheeler scared him back into the depths of pondville. I love him! I’m gonna stalk him til I catch him.
I’m weird like that. I have a sweet friend who has a blog called The Frog Pond. She is so funny and her take on the frog pond comes from the Fully Rely On God standpoint. Smart girl, that Darlene. When I think of frogs I can’t help but remember that…..I need to fully rely on God….for everything.
