Surprise

During the flooding that struck the valley this week, we were very much in need of something interesting to distract us from the dark side. Alan provided me with a great diversion right in the middle of the worst of it.

All the big tractors were about out of diesel by Thursday morning and we still needed to run the generator so the boss sent our boy way back in the field to get our ancient 930 Case tractor. It is getting close to 40 years old now, but although small, it had a full tank of fuel. (Roads were closed and our fuel supplier is still under water.)

When Alan came back down he hurried into the barn and shoved something wet and grey under my nose saying, “I think you are going to like this.”
He was really excited, but all I saw was a small toad. I don’t have bifocals any more, and with my distance glasses, which I use for work, it WAS a toad.
He insisted that I take a closer look, so I took my glasses off and peered…and oh, my God, it was a grey tree frog!

I love frogs. Well, heck I am pretty fond of most herptiles and have taken an interest since I was tiny. A big old milk snake actually created quite a diversion at my high school graduation party by getting out of its terrarium and terrorizing all my great aunts.
Although little hyla versicolor is fairly common and you can hear the toad-like call on many spring nights, I have only ever seen one single specimen when I was a little kid camping at Peck’s Lake. This is probably because they are able to change color like a chameleon. They also have special pads on their feet that allow them to stick to surfaces and travel up and down trees (or teenaged boys' arms...Alan said it felt "cool" to have it climb on him).

Ours sported an amazing array of patterns. I suspect that the toad camo was a handy-dandy defensive mechanism, as toads are poisonous to eat. Alan said that the critter was the same rusty color as the engine block of the Case when he found it crawling around on it, but it turned into a “toad” when he picked it up. We put it next to the garden pond, where an hour later it had turned the precise dingy white color of the faded paper label on the side of the tank (photo above). I haven’t seen it since but the kids with their younger, sharper eyes have seen it doing dirty brown on an old wooden box and the precise green of one of the pond side plants. I hope it stays around.

I am so glad my boy is a frog lover and thought to save the frog from certain frying as the engine heated up. I am also delighted he brought it home to me. My birthday is next week and I'll bet the little tree frog will turn out to be my favorite present.