Toad 2015

Last Tuesday I wrote about the year of the toad.  Although I showed you some pictures, I had none of this year's amphibian crop.

This time I had my camera.  The little guy was resting on the window sill of our sun porch.

Then he hopped into the mulch.

 

Vanilla dropped a quarter for scale.

There were actually two of these in this corner but I couldn't get them both in the same frame. 

Word of the day:  Fowler's toad, because I think these may be such, but I am not sure. 

•  Saturday I posed a "mystery" regarding Uncle Bill Lawson.  I found this in the Dallas, Texas city directory for 1884 :  Lawson, William H., shoemkr Hunstable Boot & Shoe Co., r 107 Bryan.

Year of the Toad

This little fellow was on our front doorstep a few years ago.  We see a toad or two in the yard every summer.  This year it has been different though.  We see toads everywhere in the yard, front and back, in the field behind the house.  One can scarcely mow, pull weeds, or even walk across the yard without stirring up a toad or two.  Had to get out of the car and chase one out of the garage before we could put the vehicle to bed last night.

I am wondering of course if this new "plague" could be the offspring of Toad a few generations down the line.  Whereas Toad pictured here was a full three and a half or four inches long, this new crop seems to average about three and a half to four centimeters in length.  Fortunately to date we have neither stepped on one nor churned one up in a mower or weed whacker.

Perhaps the icon that resides by the garage door on a permanent basis is the welcoming factor in this recent invasion.

Given the prodigious number of insects the little rascals consume, we are happy to see them about.










Word of the day: prodigious

Amphibian

We were in the sitting room watching TV when BBBH turned toward the window and saw that we were being watched watching TV.

 If you biggify the pictures, you can see that he is watching us.  Look at those eyes!

After taking a few shots through the screen, I went outside to get this shot from the other side.

We've listened to his song several evenings, but this is the first time he joined us for a movie.

What do you think, Lin?  Our toad is cute, too.  Right?