Of a Frog, her Eyes, & Karma

Yesterday I faced the front garden again, this time with what I call “the garden weasel.” I’m not sure on this name, but you get the idea. It is a crude but effective tool of different opposing parts all screwed to a shaft with oddly configured handles not unlike an auger device, except that it impales and rotates through the top layer of soil, and will continue downward, as you work.

Well, here I go, with a vigorous energy, as I contemplate just how long I am really going to be able to do this, when my friend Jim walks up, and offers to show me how this really should be done. Of course, he has the knack down, and he works it over the ground almost like a machine.

Suddenly something different pops up and lands thump in the soft soil, larger but not a rock, and upon looking, it had skin and I shout at Jim to stop. Then the creepy factor kicks in and I run back out of the garden, and back a little to see… “It’s a frog, it’s a frog!” I say, no longer sure how well Jim can really see anymore. She doesn’t move but only lays there very still.

He reaches down and scoops her up in his hand, dirt and all, and we place her over by the “oasis” which is just a small patio with a stainless steel water bowl. I look for a proper rock, and place one down in the bowl, because I know of many previous frogs who took the dive only to be trapped. This one is perfect, as I am sure if she comes for a drink, she can easily climb up on the rock to jump out.

Not being overly interested in amphibians, for once, this little frog was very interesting. She was snuggled down into the soil and the fresh compost just recently deposited into the front bed. She appeared to be asleep, with her legs all tucked in tightly to her body and she was covered in mud and quite the same color. She seemed to have no injuries from the terrible garden weasel implement, but she appeared to have one eye closest to me open half-way, which made her really cute and I was very glad she was okay.

I came back later to see if she was still there, and, like all frogs of the past, she was gone.