Green Frog

This is the story of Green Frog...

Butterfly and I often look around the yard for frogs, its our favourite thing to do! Unfortunately there are SO many dead ones around, all black and dried, its frog jerky city! Its the first Butterfly has seen of death... "oh, dead frog. So sad" she tells me. Occasionally we find a live green one! Thats so much fun, we usually pick him up and pat him (gently) and put him back. More often than not, we go back the next day and that frog has also succumbed, and is all black.

That is really hard for me, having ONE frog in your yard in Brisbane is like winning the lottery! So seeing a dead one makes me so so sad. Out here, though, they are everywhere! Around the time of the floods we also had a cricket plague, so I guess frog numbers exploded and now there isn't enough to eat (NOT helped by our landlords getting the house sprayed for pests). Thats my theory, as they all look so frightfully skinny!

ANYHOO...

The other day we found a green one in the shed. We gently lifted him out from his hidey-hole but he was not very well. He could crawl but not jump. I didn't say anything to Butterfly as she was so happy to see a live one! We said hello then put him back (home to his Mummy, as Butterfly says), and I was very sad for him.

The next day we went back into the shed and he was still alive! Strong little bugger! BUT he was even weaker, hubby turned him over in his hand and he just lay there. I couldn't stand to see another frog die! SO we got Butterfly's bug catcher, a small bowl of water and set him up a new home. Butterfly and I went and fished a bunch of live bugs from the swimming pool while hubby dug up some worms (I love him for indulging me, he knew the frog was a goner!). Then we put him in an empty snake cage with the light on for the night. Not very hopeful he'd be alive in the morning.

The next day hubby went to check. He found him flat on his back, dead. He came back in the house "the "you know what" is "you know what" I was devastated! Poor froggie!

BUT that afternoon he says to me, "did you replace the frog in the snake cage with a live one?" Because our little froggie miraculously JUMPED back into life! He was alert and active and ALIVE! YAY! Butterfly and I immediately caught him some more to eat and took him inside into the warmth. I made hubby buy insects from the pet shop to feed him too! He is going great guns now, he is getting more colour in him and is gaining strength!

I asked Butterfly what she wants to name him and she said his name is "Green Frog". So Green Frog it is! She's a very literal namer, she has horses named Friday, Phillip, Mummy horse and Boy horse. At any rate, Green Frog sums him up perfectly, because GREEN means ALIVE!

Its illegal for us to keep him forever, but we will until he is fit and able to look after his royal frogginess by himself :)

That concludes our feelgood story of this eve!