Late spring is the time when you begin to see lots of toads. I was very little when I began to see these toads everywhere, I mean everywhere. Once, Bunny Wunny and I went "toading" (is that even a word?) together. I have noticed that generally at the beginning of June sometime, before summer actually begins. that all of a sudden, it was like magic, I mean, they were everywhere. Did I say everywhere? I would skip up and down, hopping like a bunny wabbit, trying really hard not to step on them. They were so little, as first when we saw them, we were in Fox Forest here in New Hampshire. Mama and Papa and I thought they were hopping bugs. But Mama got down on the mossy floor of the forest to tell us both, nope, they are toads. It does seem that during that early part of June, that after a really thoroughly drenching rainstorm, the kind that brings, wind, and everything gets blown around, that it is after one of those kinds of storms that all of a sudden, they are all out at once. I think it is because the toad eggs need a lot of water to hatch. I think they are called toadlets. But you would have to ask a biologist about why this happens. Anyway. So I want to tell you two stories today. Once, when Bunny Wunny and I were in the horse arena, well, its not much of a arena because no matter how hard we tried, we could not keep the weeds out, but I digress. I seem to do that a lot. Anyway, so we are going into the arena and he is barefoot and I am getting all wiggly because I can feel something moving underneath the pads of my toes. Yikes, yip, yip I say and Bunny Wunny is like, what is wrong? Bunny Wunny, I do not like squiggly toes I tell him. And that is when he got down on his hands and knees to look. Dharma Dharma, the toads are here he exclaimed. So what are we to do, we both exclaim at the same time, let's rescue them. So we get the yellow pail lying under the lilac bush and we start "toading". Toads here, toads there, yes, oh yes, there are toads everywhere we sing, collecting them along the way. Well, actually he collected them and sang, I happily yipped and pointed them out by picking up my feet. Really, I do not like squiggly toes. So we are so gently picking them up for they are very tiny, smaller than a pea. He is on his hands and knees and I am picking up my feet, front and back, back to front, it really did not matter, they really were everywhere!! We were so gently rescuing them. We rescued to our hearts content, and when we were done, we counted our treasure, and we had 100 TOADS!!! Can you believe it? Anyway, we carried the bucket so gently and poured out those little babies at the edge of the woods. And he smiled and I smiled (yes, dogs do smile) and then we went in the house. We stayed out of the arena after that. Way too much work. But fun. My other story is about how Mama and I sometimes walk together on our road. It does not have tar on it, so there is a lot of wildlife around. Just recently as were walking down past neighbor's house, when we went into his yard, it is like hundreds of toads hopping everywhere. Mama is out there with her funny hat and she is trying to pick them up so gently, and put them off the road because they do get run over by cars, and that makes here feel sad. Our neighbor uncle Brucie was telling us, yeah, some lady was out there trying to rescue them. Yup, that was my Mama. Mama just feels bad that they get run over. But, it really is impossible, because you can barely walk on the road at this time. It is one of Mama's favorite times to walk, because SHE LOVES TOADS!!! She always endeavors to take care of the toads and frogs at our home. Once she stepped on one and she cried. It had hopped onto the sidewalk in the middle of the night and she was coming in late and the light was off and she did not see him. So after that she is doubly careful for the toads. In the summer, she often finds them in the horse water bucket and will rescue them. Once she planted cucumbers in a kiddie pool and it filled with water from the rains, and the frogs moved right in. Now a days, she finds them in the garden and really everywhere. Once in her younger days, ah hah, you know "in the olden days" she found an egg mass at a pond at Mount Wachusette in Massachusetts, on the top of the mountain. She put them in a discarded water bottle she found and brought them home. She set up an aquarium and watched them turn into FROGS. She said that was very cool. Then she SET THEM FREE! Mama likes little creatures to live free. She wished them a happy life. Anyway, now a days, she will be weeding or planting and dig up a toad. It is really funny. Anyway, I am signing off for today. I am going camping this weekend with brother Merlin and the old folks and uncle Jef. I am very excited. I have never been to the beach before. All my brother's Merlin, Kira and Stoney Wall have all been there before and they always said, they had a WICKED GOOD TIME. Well so long to all, and Dharma Hugs. Dharma Dharma
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