Blair



and other stories, more or less. This frog made its way to my swimming pool on Sunday night, as I turned the lights out I saw movement in the water. I went outside thinking it was a lizard which get washed into the pool from the waterfall, where they like to sun. Much to my surprise I found a frog. We have toads that I find from time to time in the garden, but generally not true frogs with web feet. I think of Frogs as needing more water than toads and associate them with ponds and creeks. We have several small creeks that run through the neighborhood, and if my zoology is right, frogs just need a pond to lay their eggs and can survive in any moist place. This frog was enjoying the pool, swimming all over the bottom of the pool, and then resting on the ledge to catch a breath and then swimming again. I was worried that the frog could not get out of the pool, but kept checking back and it seems my worries were for naught. I used to have a toad ( also named Blair) that lived in the zen garden in a terra-cotta planter under a huge tree. Year after year a toad would make its home in the pot--likely a new toad each year, but I named them all Blair. It seemed to be easier, and I liked the thought of my garden being real-estate for the resident toad population. A family vacation home for toads. Three years ago, we lost the big tree in the zen garden, it was split into two halves by wind. With every gust of wind; each half of its massive trunk began to beat like a heart. The tree was old, according to the arborist not salvageable; we were forced to cut the tree down. Without the tree the garden dynamics changed from a shade to a full sun environment, and many of the species planted did not survive the brutal Texas heat. The following year the toad family did not return to the terra cotta planter. No summer house. Now I have frogs in the pool garden, life is good.