Sunday, June 01, 2008

Toadfest
Not sure that's really a word but we are supporting a whole community of toad tadpoles. It all started a couple of years ago at my parents house. They have a beautiful Japanese garden for their front yard and in the ponds (small ones) are Koi, lilies and whatever else that is attracted to the location such as frogs, toads and snails. That year my dad gave Mia a tadpole (or polliwogs as he calls them... I don't know the difference). She brought it home and put it in her fish tank and really enjoyed watching it develop. It was a fairly big size one and it turned into a frog and we eventually let it go at the pond across the street from our house. Last year she brought home about 7 little tadpoles that turned into toads. Unfortunately as they lost their tail and really became developed we'd find them dead in the tank. They really struggled swimming at the top so for the last two I put them in a bowl and they survived. Who would have thought that they would drown since toads can swim. I guess it just tired them out to much. With that in mind I kept my eye out for those "frog habitats". Last summer I saw them at various stores for $29.99... are you kidding me? I watched the clearance at Target for them and they never dropped below $19.99. So I found one at Hobby Lobby and used the 40% off coupon. That I could do. We haven't made it out to my parent's house this spring yet but the pond across the street was teeming with them. So one day last week I sent Mike and the kids over to get some tadpoles. I see this when I get home. Is that mud at the bottom? Nope, just probably 50 tadpoles. I'll be surprised if they all survive, I was thinking they'd get 5.


The garage sale Friday was OK as I sold some bigger items but Saturday I sold a whopping $25. Later as I was cleaning up and went to take down my signs....I see they were already down. Either completely on the ground or twisted up so you can't read it. It did rain Friday and it poured Saturday right before I started. It cleared up and was a great day Saturday so it stinks that my signs were all ruined. I made a huge haul to Goodwill and will try Craigslist for some of the bigger stuff. It will be nice to have my garage back.