Toad of Toad Hall
Its absolutely glorious out there today, even sat out and had my morning cuppa on the patio - well not literally on it, I'd get piles if I remember what my mother told me correctly! But on a cushion on a chair on the patio to be precise.
I have hung two loads of laundry out and decided to de-poop the garden so Tony has no excuses for mowing the lawn later. Now to say I got freaked out is an understatement. I am not scared of frogs or toads but a little brown toad had nestled itself in the dewy grass and looked just like a turd (no offence!) and as I bent closer to pick it up...the turd moved a little......now instead of thinking oh its a toad....nope the brain tumour patient thinks "shite I am seeing things, Buttercup is back". Now I wish I was like Andrew's FB comment and seen a rare red squirrel but no, I get a "today Matthew, I am going to be a turd" toad.
Took a few seconds for the real world to come back into focus and see the turd is really a small toad....I leave him be as I didn't want my dogs to 'play' with him. Come inside, tell Tony who rolls his eyes (he does that a lot these days) and carries on washing up. He suggests I should pop it in the pond to be safe from the dogs and he can then make his own way in the world later when they are inside and he feels safe.
So I put a disposable rubber glove on and pick up the turd toad, he was quite pretty on closer examination. I carefully plopped him into our little pond - don't I just have a way with words, my English teacher would be so proud now LOL - and left him kinda half floating. Came in for a bit and then realised, we have a little hole at the top of our pre-formed pond caused by the ice over winter (despite having a bottle in there) and the water level has dropped just below the plant shelves around the side. When I went back he swimming around and around - looked like one of those disturbed animals in a zoo that just paces their cage.
So back inside and tell Tony, he is sitting with a coffee and doing something of national importance on his laptop - or thats how he makes it seem and tell him of the demented turd toad swimming around and around. He sighs, rolls his eyes again and puts his trainers on and goes out to put the little fella on the plant shelf. They still have water in and there are plenty of dark places between the plant holders for him to hide out until he's ready to move on.
All this excitement before 10am......how will the rest of the day pan out I wonder!
Here's a photo of a lone Grape Hyacinth growing in my front lawn!
Thought for today:
Other people and things can stop you temporarily. You're the only one who can do it permanently.
Zig Ziglar
