Frogs on Steroids

I swear, I've never seen such large garden frogs as I have this past month. Usually, the frogs that hop around the lawns and gardens here are teeny things, which could fit inside the shell of a small chicken egg and have room enough to dance with another frog.

This past week, however, I've seen some big frogs...... big enough to be a door-stop if they weighed more, just to give you and idea of their size. I guess the cats on the street haven't been catching them when they're smaller, and they've grown into super-sized frogs. (You want fries with that?)

They sure are cute, I have to say that. Last night, there was one on the front porch when I took Gracie outside. He just sat there on the brick border around the flower bed and looked at me. As calm as could be, just looking right at me, not bothering to move even when Gracie put her nose down to him for a little sniff. I know he was alive, because I could see him breathing as he stared up at me. When I came back from walking Gracie, the frog was still on the brick border, but he had moved down a little bit to get a better view of the street. Just what we need-- a guard frog. (A frog guard?)

The lizards have been a little larger this year as well. I know that because they crawl up and down the dining room windows from morning till night, which pleases Mickey Kitty to no end. He watches the lizards through the windows as if he's watching a movie. The dining room windows are tinted, to filter some of the sunlight coming through. When the lizard is on the outside of those windows, he's actually looking at his own reflection and not able to see Mickey Kitty on the other side of the glass. So while the lizard is admiring his handsome self, he has no idea that there's a small black kitten dancing around on the other side of the glass and trying to capture a pink-throated green lizard.

The spider webs have also been large this season....... more like condos than simple webs. We know that because we nearly walked into one not too long ago that was constructed by our front porch and blocked the pathway towards the sidewalk. My husband nearly walked right into that web one morning as he went out the door with Gracie. He re-located the web, using the broom to move it to the side flowerbeds. Our dear friend Frankie would've been proud of that.... she never disturbed a spider web.

Frogs and lizards and spiders...... and let's not even talk too much about the alligators. Two huge alligators were pulled from nearby bayous during the past couple of months. One was measured at eight feet long, the other was nearly twelve. Large enough to catch someone's small dog or cat, if the gator was hungry, and large enough to pull an adult down into the bayou if they got too close. The Chronicle had an article about alligators...... they said to walk, not run, if you see a gator in the water or on the banks of a bayou. The Chronicle article also said that the gator will give you a loud hiss of warning, so you'll have a head-start as you "walk slowly away, do not run" from the alligator. Can The Chronicle be sure of that? What if the alligator is having a bad day and doesn't feel like giving that hiss of warning before he takes off running towards you?

We see young kids right here in our subdivision playing near the bayou. They also sit down near the bayou with fishing poles, hoping to catch turtles and catfish that are always in the bayou. Makes me wonder why signs aren't posted warning of the dangers. On the grounds where my husband works, there are signs posted telling everyone to Beware of the wildlife.... deer, alligators, bobcats, snakes.... and a few others that I just can't remember right now.

Time to stop typing.... I started talking about frogs and ended up with alligators and snakes on my mind. Hopefully, they'll be out of my mind by the time my head hits the pillow tonight.