It Rained!

Yeah, I get that for so many of you that's a hum-drum, perhaps even undesirable thing. But hey, we live in the desert, and rain is nectar from the Otherworld. Just ask these little green guys...



The toads we've had in our yard were Woodhouse's Toads but these are different critters. They are Spadefoot Toads, and even the kids can see the difference. They're a much brighter green, less "warty" looking and have distinctive toes (for digging).



It's been storming for a couple of days now but this morning, it had finally settled into a slow, steady and soaking rain. The kids and I were of like mind -- why stay in the house when we could be in the rain? So, we got dressed and set out. Not far into our walk, a little toad passed us on the road, hopping in the other direction. Again, I think we all were struck by the same idea at about the same time. We had to take him home with us. :) So I scooped him up and with toad cupped in one hand and Ainslie on my hip, we hurried back home. Sadly, on the way back, we saw things we hadn't noticed at the onset, poor smashed toad bodies in the street. The kids quickly decided that our walk in the rain was after all, a toad rescue mission. At home, we deposited the little guy in the backyard, dubbing him Spadey, and set back out, this time with a small bucket and piece of cardboard as a lid - we were on a toad hunt. We knew they were all around us. The raucous sound of toad love rang out, echoing between the houses in our neighborhood. But for awhile, all we saw were road-kill toads. When next we spotted one, his body hung immobile in a deep puddle, only his eyes above the water. The kids waded in gleefully but he eluded them. We'd spot him then he'd disappear. Eventually the muddy water clouded up too much, and even my die-hard toad-hunting kids decided to look for another. Ultimately, we caught three, of varying size, but all Spadefoots. By this time, we'd walked almost all the way to Daddy's new work, conveniently close to our house. We trooped into his office, dripping mightily after almost an hour in the rain, our bucket o'toads periodically leaping and the kids all talking at once, clamoring to tell their tale. Lenny helped us devise a sturdier bucket lid (our cardboard was very soggy by this point) and gave us a quick ride home. We were drenched through.

We released our toads in the backyard. They were calm and just sat, throats swelling rhythmically when we dumped them out. Furthermore, two of them were in a pretty provocative pose (I'm thinking polliwogs and maybe toad babies is in the future). It was a very fun morning. :)