A Toad Sighting!

Aren't you excited? Well, if you aren't then you dang well ought to be. Our toads are gone, I tell you they are G.O.N.E.

When we first moved into this house there was a plethora of toads - and that suited me just fine. I've always liked toads, nothing made me happier as a little girl than to have a toad to pack around in my pocket. Big toads, little toads, medium sized toads, I liked them all. And I didn't even care if they peed on me.

Our first few summers here, right at dusk, the toads would come out and sit on our driveway and sidewalk. They also liked to congregate on the sidewalk across the street under the street-light, waiting for the bug buffet to begin each evening.

When our girls were smaller, Danny and I would help them catch bugs and feed the toads on our driveway. I think we got a bigger kick out of it than they did - it was a fun way to spend a summer night.

Anyway, about three summers ago, I noticed that all of the toads disappeared.

Vanished. Into thin air.

I've done a little Internet research, trying to figure out where they might have gone and I came up empty handed. I'm left to draw my own conclusion and it's that the drought must have killed them. Now, I have no scientific basis for this conclusion, it's a pretty simple hypothesis based on two factors: It quit raining and my toads vamoosed.

So, back to my toad sighting tonight, Nelson and I saw a small one in the driveway! So, maybe there is hope for a toad re-population on the horizon!