Toad haven

So tonight we sat on the front porch until late. Nearly 10:30. That's LATE for old folks like us. For the first time this summer, we spotted lots of Mexican free-tailed bats flitting about in the darkening sky. I'm sure they've been around....we just haven't been out that late in the evening.

While we were sitting there, we heard a commotion behind us. So did Abe, one of our boy cats. James dashed into the garage for a flashlight. When he returned, we found a big toad in the corner in between the bromeliad and the African milk tree. Then I found a dish to set out near him with water. Alas, the lid had holes (a lady had brought me a huge wolf spider in a coffee container), and I had grabbed that lid. (The spider died soon thereafter, much to my dismay.) So I went inside the house and found a plate that I could trade out. As you can see, the toad found the water and had a nice time. Last summer, when we had so much rain, we had lots of toads. We kept plates filled with water in a wild area in the back yard. We hadn't done that this year 'cause we hadn't seen any toads.

Until today.

This morning, I rescued a toad, treading water in a container we keep under the a/c drain in the back yard. He looked a little bloated but alive. So tonight's amphibian was our second today!

We decided we'll start filling those plates again regularly with water.

Isn't he cute?