ode to the toad

We lived in Lima, Ohio, for four years during my 4th through 8th grade years. It was one of five states that I lived during my "school age" years. And, when I reminisce about the different places we lived while growing up, I'd say... without a doubt, it is on the top of the list of places that we lived as a family. The neighborhood was a good one for kids and of course it was still a time when we could play outside all day, only checking in at the time we were suppose to be home.

My best friend Melanie lived right next door. Very convenient, especially since we were the same age. She went to a private school but, after school, weekends and summers, we played together a lot. There was a reservoir up the street from us which made for a great sledding hill in the winter.  In the summer, we practiced rock skipping and fishing. It is where I perfected the wrist action of the trusty Zebco with my Dad while fishing for a sunfish or two. There was also a creek that ran through the neighborhood, where we spent a lot of time crawdad fishing, wading and even ice-skating in the winter. I clearly remember the day Melanie's skate broke through the ice and her leg fell in up to her knee. I was skating right beside her and pulled her to safety when she grabbed onto me in a panic. I remember it as the "time my friend almost fell through the ice." In reality, I'm not sure how deep that creek really was... but it certainly scared the two of us enough to end our ice skating for the day. Besides the fact that she had a frozen wet foot!

 

Another fun summer activity that we enjoyed was to catch toads. They were plentiful in the neighborhood. As plentiful as skinned knees, mosquitos and lightening bugs. We would play with them like pets, stroking their dimply, textured skin and  loosely tying string around their 'necks' so we could take them for walks. We also set up little habitats in our window wells, complete with beds, swimming pools and playgrounds.  And we fed them lightening bugs. We would hold the live bug on our finger an inch or two from the frogs mouth. Its tongue would leap out and grab the bug! That in-itself was cool, but did you know... if you do this at dusk, catch the bugs and feed it to the toad it will swallow it  and expand its 'rib-it' neck and the lightening bug will light up and you can see it glow through the toads skin?

I kid you not.

Tangent happening here: Recently I went into a Sephora store to get some foundation that I was out of. I like a particular brand that I've been using for awhile, because it has SPF protection and is a pretty good match for my skin type. I've never had luxuriously silky skin and have had my fair share 

(time to say enough already at this age) of acne, which has left my skin less than smooth. I  started browsing a different brand that has a particular item that I use as well. I started wondering if I should make a foundation change. So, I asked the make-up professional if she thought 'brand A' was still a good selection for me, or would 'brand B' work better?  She took a close look at my face and said....   

"Well, I think that 'A' would still be the best choice for you, it works really well on textured skin." 

  

                                        Okay.

So, back to Ohio and the whole toad story. One day, Melanie and I found a whole pool of tadpoles in the creek. Thousands and thousands of tadpoles. We got the very good, very scientific idea to scoop  a couple of handfuls of those tadpoles and creek water into buckets and bring them home. So we did. We rode our bikes, while carrying our buckets of tadpoles, all the way home.

                                              We were going to hatch toads!! Or frogs!! 

We kept our buckets in her garage and checked on them often. They were so cute with their big black heads and little wiggly tails swimming around in those buckets! We waited patiently. I don't remember how many days passed while we checked on our little tadpoles. But, I do know that soon  little arm and leg buds started popping out. The little buds got longer and started looking like 'frog legs' and our little tadpoles were beginning to look a bit more like frogs/toads...with tails. So exciting! We were like little scientists! And then I don't know what happened...if we lost interest for a couple of days or what, but all we both remember is her Dad calling us out to the garage one day....

 ...all over the garage floor were tiny little frogs. Dead, dried up little frogs. They had turned into frogs when we weren't looking and jumped out of the water buckets and then dried up and died. We were crushed. I think we had to sweep them up and throw them away. We had killed them. 

So, all of these years later, Melanie and I have kept in touch. We have laughed about those little frogs or toads, whichever they were. It was an honest mistake that any kid could make. Who knew they would jump out of the buckets? We've laughed over a lot of good memories from those years on Barnsbury Drive. A fun place to live!

This Christmas a box came for me from Melanie. This adorable cement toad was inside. Her note said, "It's not like the wild pool side friends [in your yard] but maybe it will remind you of Ohio!" 
I love it!! It is from Carruth Studios in Ohio, where the artist casts stone garden creatures. It's a perfect addition to my outdoor yard decor and yes Melanie...I will think of Ohio and you and those great memories of fun times we had together! Especially with the toads!
                                 

                                                                    The end.


P.S. Thank you again Melanie for this cute little guy. I love him!