Mr. Toad Goes Surfing! and Updates

08/17/07

Why did he leave the security of being inside the safety of the missing brick in the brick wall and the back yard? Where did he have to go? Right back near the road, probably because that is where so many insects are, on the warm cement of the road.We had a horrible storm in the mid hours of the morning and thunder was hammering in the sky and the lightning was bolting as though flames were shooting a path up to the sky. Rain was pouring in the darkness and running down the road in swift, viscous paths. My husband was up watching from the kitchen window.He sees a dark blob like a big chunk of mud riding the wave of the water down the road!! It is NOT a big chunk of mud but it is our MR. TOAD! While catching insects, he had gotten caught up in the wave of water and was riding down the road as if he were surfing in the ocean. Eddie said he could not get up out of the water until he reached a shallow point where he hopped off the road and for the safety and protection of the side of the house.Now I can not find my "surfing toad!"
UPDATE 08/22/07Would you believe that even a toad knows where he is going? I know it sounds silly to search for a toad, but that is what I did each time I would take Jezebel outside. I could not find him anywhere.Yesterday, it was unbelievable! There he was! Right near his home in the missing brick just sitting there with his yellow, fluorescent lined eyes, BACK HOME! He had to go all the way through from the front of the house where he was caught in the wave of rainwater, 50 feet back and then hop up a hill through the yard another 20 feet to get to his home near the side of the porch. I wonder how he can remember this.A yellow jacket is out today. I wonder if Toads eat them!! Jezebel is as hysterical over hornets, yellow jackets and wasps as I am.
UPDATE 09/24/07I can't find Mr. Toad again for the last couple weeks. I am thinking he has dug under the dirt between the wall and the porch. He is not in his opening of the bricks where he used to stay. Being it is cold and he was such a huge toad, I don't know if they hybernate because it looked as though he ate every bug there was in the back yard!, if he has to drink he may have migrated to near the creek or the river. I hope he makes it back in the spring. The yellow jackets have not gone away yet...as soon as the sun comes out full force they are overhead!
UPDATE 09/30/07Last night upon taking Jezebel outside at her usual time of 7:00, already I had to put the porch light on because it was almost dark. We both noticed something hopping on the cement walk. Not quite as fat as he was, but it was our Mr. Toad...I am wondering if it could be a Mrs. Toad? I wanted to pick him up after hooking Jezzie on her leash, but he is all bumpy and lumpy and he hopped too fast and went under the orange bush. He must be hunkered down under the dirt between the wall and the porch. If he ventures to the road I do not think he will make it across before some vehicle comes racing down the hill.
UPDATE 10/03/07He hopped down the side steps and hunkered down in the dirt. I wonder if he will go back up the steps. He is not safe being outside of his mud house. I really think he is getting used to my voice....sometimes when I call Mr. Toad he raises his head up in the air. His eyes seem to have two eyelids and the outside one flourescent yellow. How about that?
UPDATE 10.10.07Well, Mr. Toad is in the bottom yard now, away from his usual home in the missing brick. He has traveled around about 20 feet and down the steps about 5 more feet and he was sitting in the yard. I tried to tell him that if Eddie doesn't see him when he cuts grass, he is in BIG TROUBLE! He went and hid in the flagstones after he hopped away from me. It is COLD now outside so maybe he will get under the mud near the flagstone wall and hide.
UPDATE 10.11.07Well, he almost got tramped on this evening. I took Jezebel out to bathroom and it was pouring rain and dark but I had my light and decided to hunt for Mr. Toad. I looked down over the wall where he was hiding last night and turn around to come back near the porch and THERE he was!, right on the sidewalk where I had just walked. He is a very large toad and has the prettiest wortie markings, I have to say. He made it UP the steps to this part of the yard near the back porch and he was under the downspout last time I put the light on him. I hope he stays near safe near the back porch and hides in the soil there.
UPDATE 10.23.07To my surprize on this rainy, warm morning, I took a chance and searched for him among the strawy grass between the brick wall and the porch. THERE HE WAS! Mr. Toad! In the safest place in the whole yard....he seems very intelligent for a TOAD. He has to dig in to the soft soil around the porch because he is not always where I can see him. Although he is where the snake comes out of his hole, they have not bothered each other. Eddie says, "What animal or bird would want to eat that toad?" I read an e-mail that a lady's dog ate a toad and got very sick. I keep Jezebel totally away from the edges of the walls and the house.