Cleopatra, the Beautiful Frog

I have mentioned a very lovely Rio Grande Leopard Frog that has been gracing the pond for awhile.  She is just exceptionally beautiful - you can't help but notice that she is special.  She has long graceful legs that she folds neatly under her perfect torso.  She also has an exceptionally long and narrow nose, for a frog.  This nose of hers is actually quite striking and it helps me recognize her from the other frogs.   She is also extremely shy and dives for cover whenever I'm around, so I only get to catch glimpses of her now and then.  Sometimes, I look out the window and she is hiding so that all I can see is her beautiful nose peeking out from under a rock..


I decided that this lovely frog needed a nice name and for some reason, I thought of Cleopatra. 

I swear that  I did not know beforehand, however,  that Cleopatra's nose has been the object of philosophical and literary discussion!  

From the Wikipedia entry for Cleopatra, I found the following:

"In his Pensées, philosopher Blaise Pascal contends, evidently speaking ironically because a large nose has symbolized dominance in different periods of history, that Cleopatra's classically beautiful profile changed world history: "Cleopatra's nose, had it been shorter, the whole face of the world would have been changed."

This passage, however, did not make it clear to me why, exactly, Cleopatra's nose was famous.  Looking further, I found that "Cleopatra's Nose" is actually the name of a theory (From an essay by Neil Munro in his Pathways to Philosophy website):

"The role of chance in history is often known as the Cleopatra's nose theory, first advanced by Pascal and holding that, had Mark Anthony been less captivated by Cleopatra's charms, he might have turned in a better performance at the battle of Actium, with all the fascinating "what if" consequences for the Roman Empire and subsequent Western civilisation that might have followed."

I also found a book called Cleopatra's Nose: 39 Varieties of Desire,  by Judith Thurman.  It is described by Amazon as: "an exuberant gathering of essays and profiles representing twenty years of Judith Thurman's celebrated writing, particularly her fascination with human vanity, femininity, and "women's work"--from haute couture to literature to commanding empires." 

I very much like Cleopatra the frog hanging out in the pond and reminding us all of the role of chance in our lives.  What has chance brought to us?  How many times have I wondered what might have been...

Get Off The Road, Toad!

All this week, it has been dusk or dark when I get home from work.  On Monday, as I drove up the driveway towards the carport, I saw something....toadlike...in front of the carport.  I stopped just short of what could have also been a leaf (with my terrible eyesight) and I saw a smiling toad right in my path.  I shooed him to the the grass, towards the pond.  What a nice greeting, I thought.  Tuesday, same thing, this time, the toad was facing me as I drove up and seemed to stare into my headlights.  Again, I stopped the car, and walked the toad to the side of the driveway, then quickly drove into the carport.  Today -- there were two little frogs in the driveway.  Again, I got out of the car and shooed them away.  I recognized these two guys as the two young toads who like to hang out in the pond.  One of them is slightly yellowish and skinny.  A few minutes later, I came out with a flashlight and there was the yellow toad right back in the middle of the driveway. Knowing that my husband would be driving down the driveway soon, I kept watch and made sure that the toads wouldn't get squished by my husband's car.   

This wasn't the first time I've seen toads in the road. About six months ago, I got a phone call.  "Steph, move your toad."  I came outside and there was my husband, in his car, in front of Ulysses (the giant wise toad who I haven't seen for awhile) who was sitting in the middle of the carport right in the car's path.  I walked with Ulysses and escorted him as he slowly hopped back to the garden and the pond.

Why are the toads deciding that they want to hang out in the street?  Bad place for toads!!!  I confess that two years ago, I ran over a frog in the driveway at night.  He hopped right in my path and I felt just terrible.  I hate hate hate finding flat frogs in the street.  Why?  Are they attracted to the warmth of the pavement as the weather starts to get cooler? Are they hunting on the street?  I don't see bugs on the street.  Frogs are confusing.  Can someone please tell me why the toads are on the roads in the Fall?

Finally! A frog comes back.

For a whole week after our glorious rain, there hasn't been a single frog in the pond.  It made me very sad.  Hercules was nowhere to be seen for days, either.  (Hercules is my lizard boyfriend.)


Friday, my husband reported that "[my] boyfriend" was on the porch and was quite annoyed with him using the recycling bin.  He kept running up the tree and coming back and running up the tree again.  (My boyfriend, not my husband.)  I still haven't seen Hercules, so I hope my husband hasn't permanently run my boyfriend off. 

Then last night, late, I saw a magnificent Rio Grande Leopard Frog in the pond.  She was one of the biggest I had ever seen and was quite stunning.  I was so happy to see a frog back at the pond.  I still haven't seen a single toad, though and wonder what happened to the the three juveniles that had been regulars most of the summer.

Yesterday, my next door neighbor said that there has been a giant toad hanging out around their house for awhile.  I told her that it might very well be Ulysses. They have a very nice garden with more shade than I have, so maybe he spent the hot summer with them.  I hope he visits me again.

What are we, chopped liver??

So, it finally RAINED three days ago!!   This was a serious 2 inch rainstorm that filled the pond and actually saturated the earth.  Awesome, right?  Well, yeah.  But....NO frogs have visited the pond since then.  Not one.   Not a single frog or toad and my lizard boyfriend has disappeared.    I guess we aren't the only game in town anymore.  How sad.  I have a nice full, clear pond and no frogs. 

Fair weather friends!  (I guess that would be drought-weather friends.)

Hints of Rain!

Austin is still suffering from this horrible drought, but we had some very exciting drizzle this morning and an actual short downpour (that lasted maybe 30 seconds).  We might have some more coming so we are keeping our fingers crossed. Do frogs have fingers?  Why yes they do!  Looking for some bit of information on whether there is a special name for a frog's hand, I found the following that was disconcertingly placed on an unnamed/unlabeled "dissection worksheet" that must have been for some poor high school kid's biology class : "To determine the frog’s sex, look at the hand digits, or fingers, on its forelegs. A male frog usually has thick pads on its "thumbs," which is one external difference between the sexes. Male frogs are also usually smaller than female frogs."  So, not only did I learn that frogs and people both have hands, fingers and even thumbs, I found out that I can perhaps tell males and females from their thumbs. Also found out that a frog has four fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot!

Last night, the pond was graced with 3 small toads and one pretty Leopard frog.  Every time I come out to visit at night, I hear a "plop" or two as I come out, which is the sound of a frog diving for cover.  The toads only leave or dive, though, when I annoy them by getting too close or trying to take too many pictures with flash bulbs.  Normally, they will just hang out with me. Whether they are curious or lazy or just don't care? -- who know?  I do like their attitudes, though. This guy let me get pretty up close and personal before he dived down, annoyed at the flash.

The little guy below just stayed put, trying to pretend I wasn't there.

We had a bit of excitement last week with the possum.  Since the first time I saw him, I saw him a couple of more times next to the pond and I thought that he was just hanging out looking for bugs and plants to eat.  Researching, however, I found that possums eat snakes and frogs.  So Mr. Possum is no longer welcome.  I made that fact perfectly clear to him when I found him scrounging in the garden at night.  I yelled at him and told him he needed to leave.  Mr. clueless possum then waddled up stairs to porch and then huddled by the front door as I scolded him.  He showed me his teeth in a very harmless way and just huddled there, with fleas crawling all over his poor little face. With the handle of a shovel, I nudged him back and asked him to turn around and leave.  He would not.   I finally just had to push the poor thing off the porch, while telling him sternly that he was not ever to come back.  He didn't like that one bit and hasn't shown up since.

My lizard boyfriend has been visiting frequently, however.  He has been regularly coming onto the porch where I say hello to him every day, usually sometime between 2 and 4 pm. Last night, I started a new job and wasn't home until 7:00 pm.  When I came home, I found him on the porch where he seemed to be waiting for me.  He stayed there and we chatted (ok, well, he listed to me talk to him) and I threw out some frozen corn for him.  He didn't eat the corn while I was there, but I left him alone and when I came back, the corn was gone.  I really really like that lizard.  He lost his tail a couple of days ago and looks a little pathetic, but I don't dare tell him.  I only tell him how handsome I think he is.  I think his name needs to be Hercules, as he wants me to be very impressed by his push ups and feats of lizard strength and as I tell him, he is extremely handsome.  If I leave Texas, I will miss him very much.

Baby Praying Mantis next to our front door!

Living in unison with wildlife is hard.  You learn to simply accept the departures of your friends.  Life is so precious and can be so very temporary.   I haven't seen the wise giant toad Ulysses in a long time and have no idea whether he has found a better home or whether he was eaten by some hawk or possum.  It is hard to accept that one day, you could be enjoying a laugh with a beautiful creature who has come to be your friend and the next day, that friend has gone, maybe to come back and maybe never to be seen again.  You just don't know.  You can't control it, no matter how hard you try.  Nature is tough.

Oh -- speaking of creatures I was sure should have departed by this time, that damn frog-loving cricket showed up again yesterday.  He is certainly walking the tightrope of life!