My little lonely pond

Well, you haven't heard much from the frog blog lately, mainly because there really hasn't been much to talk about.  We only have one little resident, a Rio Grande Leopard Frog who I am assuming is female because she is quite silent.  Every night I see her in the pond and she disappears in the morning.  She used to jump for cover when I came to say hi, but she cautiously stays around, watching me.  I was actually able to finally taker her picture:

 I know these aren't very clear, but keep in mind that I am sneaking up on her with a flashlight, trying not to drop the smartphone in the water!  She is very cute.

It seems like she is very lonely, though.  She just hangs out, waiting for friends to join her.  If we are going to have some tadpoles in the pond, she can't continue to be in there by herself.  I am wishing a froggy boyfriend comes to join her soon.

Sadly, I haven't seen a single toad since the worst of the drought.  I am so afraid that we have killed off our beautiful and charming toads.  I miss them so much. 

We have had a good amount of rain in the past couple of months, so the lack of frogs and toads is simply heartbreaking, as in previous years, this wet weather would have frogs and toads jumping all over the place.  Damn drought. 

Happy Belated New Year!

Let's just say Happy Chinese New Year, shall we?  After all, frogs are good luck in Chinese culture and having a frog in your garden is supposed to bring you money.  I am hoping for a bumper crop of frogs this year!

So far, this winter has been so weak, lots of of critters think it's spring.  These butterflies have taken over the  garden and birds are filling the sky and scouring the fields for food.

The pond has been quiet.  When I come out at night, I occasionally see a Leopard Frog leaping to a hiding place or hear a little "plop" which I know is a frog diving for cover. Always just one, maytbe two. No concerts, so I think the frogs hanging out are females.

The frog population needs help around here after this terrible drought.  For my part, I knew I had to get the goldfish out of the pond as they have proved themselves to be voracious frog egg and froglet predators.




 
Over the holiday, I found a giant 75 gallon fish tank on Craigslist for $100.  It is HUGE!!  It sat in the front yard for a month, but about two weeks ago, we finally hauled it inside and set it up.  Putting 75 gallons of bottled water in that thing was quite a chore, but our well water is too salty, so I had to make several 30 mile roundtrip treks to the water store  to fill up our jugs and fill the tank.

Marge

 

George

 

After running the new filter for awhile, I managed to corral the fish into big plastic bags, carried them into the house and set the bags in the tank for the water temperatures to equalize.  Marge wasn't hard to catch, but George was pretty wily.

They are set up next to a window, so they have a nice view.

Raining all weekend!

The pond is full, the fountain and filter are working well and the water is clear.  I still haven't moved Marge and George into the aquarium, but am putting extra netting over the pond every day because I saw evidence that a bird has been eyeing the pond while I've been at work.  No wonder my fishies were getting shy!   Now that double nets are up, the fish are bolder.  I love that.  Cleopatra is still hanging out at the pond.  I think one other Leopard frog is, too, but I haven't seen a toad in ages. 

I put a little lit Christmas tree on the porch tonight as a festive touch.  Later in the evening, I looked out the window and say Marge swimming around pretty aggressively.  Normally at night, they just stay still.  Are they sleeping?  I think so! But tonight, Marge was pretty active so I was afraid there was a snake or some other menace around.  I checked and all was well.  When I came out, they settled down.  Maybe they don't like the lights from the Christmas tree. 

Changes

The weather in Austin has finally changed.  We have had a few rainstorms.  We have had a frost.  The ground in moist and we have a bit of green everywhere.  Not to say that the heat has passed, though. We are still reaching the 80's during most days and sometimes I don't know whether we will need the Air Conditioning or the heater that day.

I was hoping that the change of weather would bring a slew of frogs to the pond.  I was hoping that all those frogs that had gone underground during the drought and the heat wave would dig themselves out and start partying at the pond.  Alas, that has not happened.  I still see Cleopatra, but she is so very shy and the pond has been sadly still of frog activity or song in the evenings.   I think that we have lost a lot of frogs in the drought and that makes me very sad. The fish have been very shy, too; I think they have seen predators because Marge hid from me when I came to visit today.  I haven't seen any snakes, though, although I sometimes dream of them. We will be feeling the effects of this drought for many years to come. 

Today, my husband asked me if I wanted to know if he came upon a dead frog in the driveway.  He asked me whether I would want to see and take care of it on my own, or whether I would want him to take care of it.  I asked him to take care of it, but now I feel guilty.  I wanted to know which frog this was.  I probably knew him.  It was probably a toad. It was probably one of the two silly toads I kept having to chase off the driveway.  How could I have squished a frog yesterday?  Normally, I keep a close watch when I drive in.  But I was the last one in and I know I was driving too fast.  I know my husband probably just threw the flattened toad into the trash.  But -- I should have buried him.  I should have said a few words and wished him or her well into the next adventure, whatever that may be for a silly toad.  Send him some thoughts, if you will, so that if he gets a  "next time", he might stay off the road; so that he would not be so lucky to have survived the worst drought and heat wave in Texas history - just to be mowed down by a Honda.  Sigh.

But - change happens.  It happens whether you are ready for it or not.  Life moves on.   I have been acutely aware that my lovely goldfish, the ones that started out as tiny .19 feeder fish from Petco, have become little monsters.  Marge is over 4 inches long and George is almost as big.  They have gone from cheap carnival goldfish to mini-Koi.

I have tried to block it from my mind, but I know that they eat tadpoles.  I also know that they are a target for predators and they really need to be moved from their pond.  For  months I have been scouring Craigslist for the perfect habitat for them - a huge fishtank.  I was told that goldfish, due to their generally filthy nature, need ten gallons for every inch of fish.  This means I was looking for a tank of about 75 gallons.   Truthfully, I had no idea what that looked like until I answered an ad from someone who was selling the whole setup for only $100 - tank, filter, stand, extra charcoal - everything I needed.  When I went to look at it, it floored me.  A 75 gallon tank is HUGE!  

Seriously, this monstrosity is going to fill up half a room for two fish.  The two of us could barely lift it when it was empty of water.

This weekend, I had planned to clean the tank, fill it and get them situated.  Still don't know whether I will keep the tank outside on the porch or bring it into my office.  New life for Marge and George!  I hope they enjoy it.  Now, they will be safe little indoor fishies.   Hmmm.  I hope I am doing the right thing by them. They won't get to visit with any frogs anymore, nor will they get to eat tadpoles or survive on just algae. They won't hide from the birds or snakes or other creatures who have considered them snacks.   I will feed them proper goldfish food and they will become docile indoor creatures. I am hoping to move across country and hope to take them with me in a giant bucket, where they will be California fish and maybe live in a pond outside in the San Francisco Bay Area where I will battle raccoons and other California varmints.  

Happy Feastday to St. Martin de Porres (belatedly - it was November 3)

 I found this today and needed to share it:

"Legend has it that if you pray to St. Martin and see a mouse in an unusual place on his feast day, you will receive an answer to a prayer, so I am sending a mouse your way today ..... along with a cute frog, too. "

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?