Sunday, March 29, 2026

Trigger Warning: Toad Ahead


Remember this picture from two days ago of the crocosmia choking out the hydrangea? 
For some completely deranged idea, I thought I could get out there and clear that area of the crocosmia, monkey grass, and chenille plant in a couple of hours. 
Tops. 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I was being delusional. 
I did get a good start on it though. I was so determined to get in there and work today that I had already positioned the garden cart in which to deposit the invasive plants I pulled and had my trowel at the ready. So I put on my gardening overalls and gardening shoes and put my clippers in my back pocket to deal with roots I could not pull and on my knees I went. 
After a little over two hours I have managed to get a lot done but it's certainly not all cleared. 


I'm getting there. When I'm done I need to fertilize those poor bushes. In the twenty plus years I've lived here, I have never fertilized them once. It's a miracle they're still alive. 

While I was weeding, I was surprised when this critter hopped out of the border grass. 


I am not frog or toad phobic but they are not my favorite animal either. They're not even my favorite amphibians. 
Wait. I just thought about it and I do not have a favorite amphibian. They are completely otherworldly to me. I have never once held one in my hand although I have held several snakes, albeit in a highly controlled situation with snake experts standing by. 
But if you take all the emotions out of the observation of toads and frogs, they are pretty darn cool.

Let me just say that I am grateful beyond words that I did not have to kiss a toad to find my prince. 

Well, as the T-shirt says, I did kiss a lot of toads before I found my prince but not of the actual amphibious sort. 
This is an Eastern Spadefoot toad. Its little feet are cleverly constructed to be able to dig backwards into the dirt. They spend most of their lives underground, I take it, having burrows where they live. Wikipedia has a most interesting and even, dare I say? fascinating article on them. 
You can read that HERE.
Just in case you feel scientifically interested. 

So clearing out that little bit of ground was honestly about the only constructive thing I did today besides a little laundry and making our Sunday breakfast. For whatever reason, I was simply not in the mood to make the regular Sunday breakfast/brunch which is either bacon or sausage, biscuits, potatoes or grits, and eggs. 
Nope. Didn't want to do it. 
So I made pancakes which is a one and done sort of thing. Sausage too, but that's not hard or time consuming. The pancakes had bananas, apple, blueberries, pecans, and oat bran in them. So yes, they were basically health food. Oh, I scrambled some eggs too because that is also easy. Mr. Moon was not unhappy. 

Sundays are special days for us. We call Sunday our "date day" and although we have an obviously empty nest, it is a day we reserve for each other. There is much sweetness. 
For example- today Mr. Moon washed my car! 
True love, eh? 

I think so. 

And that is all. 

Love...Ms. Moon







32 comments:

  1. Toads/frogs really don't bother me. Snakes....well...give me a diaper. I might have to borrow Trump's...then again. Anyway, do you have coral snakes that far north in Florida? When I moved to Miami, I was told to be
    aware of coral snakes and pygmy rattlers when walking my dogs. A dog walk was never the same, even when I moved back to Ohio. LOL! I was also snorkeling in the Keys and was getting ready to get certified in scuba diving. THEN....the movie Jaws came out. After seeing that I never went back in the ocean again. I sold all my snorkeling equipment and canned the skin diving. Even to this day I'm kind of freaky about even getting in a pool. That movie did a number on me.
    Oh, and those pancakes. Heaven!!
    Paranormal John

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lol at 'give me a diaper'.

      Delete
    2. Yes, of course we have coral snakes. And pygmy rattlers and regular sized ones too. And moccasins, my own personal most feared snakes. We have them all except for the invasive pythons which have not made it this far north yet.
      They will. Oh, I know they will.
      But honestly, I rarely see snakes. I have no doubt they are seeing me even when I do not know they're there, though.
      I've never liked swimming in water where I can't see what's beneath or around me although I have been swimming in the Atlantic or Gulf most of my life and have never gotten close to getting shark bit. That's one of the reasons I love swimming in the clear waters of the Caribbean.
      The pancakes were good and honestly, with no butter or syrup on them, not bad nutritionally at all.

      Delete
  2. Gorgeous looking frog but, yes, no need to kiss it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love toads and frogs, always glad to see them getting around in spring. I often wonder what other species think of humans.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Me too!! And snakes too! But toads and frogs are cuter for sure!

      Delete
    2. I also wonder what critters think of humans. Can small insects even fathom that we are alive? Mosquitoes do, I think! Hey! Here's a human! I will suck her blood! Okay, there's probably not really that sort of thought process going on.
      Anon- I think our little green tree frogs are cute. But mostly frogs and toads are not on my list of cute things.

      Delete
  4. He's a pretty toad at least. I think you got an amazing amount of crocosmia pulled, and I did not know you had three hydrangeas in there, thought there was only one. Many people here have hydrangeas and some are even in pots and all do very well, they know what to add to change the colours from pink to blue.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are FOUR in there! Not sure I realized it either so don't feel bad.
      These hydrangea are of the lace cap variety so they don't really show much color.

      Delete
  5. Well you really got me started reading up on Spadefoot toads, which I initially thought were a subtropical Florida thing. Turns out they are quite wide spread but in all my days of messing around in gardens and woods I have never seen one, although now I have ambitions in that direction. That looks like a lot of weeding; I think the trick is to look at the square yard you are working on vs all the other square yards that might still be weedy. Like clearing out closets, which I also have been doing.

    Cheers,
    Ceci

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You've probably never seen one because they spend so much time underground. Also, their camouflage is pretty darn good.
      You are so right about not thinking about the whole task but merely breaking it down into pieces that are doable.

      Delete
  6. Mary in the garden, imagine that! Finding the cutest toad is such a bonus. Chernobyl frogs have adapted well but they are totally black from radiation. Same frog/toads that are bright green on the outskirts. They are a special species- adapt relatively quickly- great for scientists to study.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I bet that the scientists who study amphibians love the critters. I hope so, anyway! I did not know that about the toads and frogs of Chernobyl.

      Delete
  7. I’d never seen an Eastern Spadefoot toad. Beautiful markings. I immediately thought he needed a bath, but then when you spend so much time underground I guess that’s no surprise. Those pancakes do not sound one-and-done to me. What a deluxe list of ingredients.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought the little Mr. Toad looked pretty clean for someone who lives in underground. But yeah, you can see that black dirt of Lloyd on him.
      Well, pancakes are one and done because when I made the biscuits and eggs and meat and potatoes and biscuits it's all those different things. With the pancakes you just mix up the ingredients and cook 'em.

      Delete
  8. That is one handsome toad, I must say.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You did a great job of weeding, Mary. That was a lot of work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And about one-one hundredth of what needs to be done. Or less.

      Delete
  10. Nice weeding job MM. It looks terrific.
    That is a good-looking large frog in your garden.
    With a stream on one side of my property, toads and frogs are plentiful, and they eat insects that can damage plants. All are welcome.
    Your pancakes sound spectacular. I love all the extras you add to them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love the idea of having toads and frogs around but I do not want them to jump on me. It's a love-hate thing.
      I see pancake batter as a way to get some fruit and fiber in.

      Delete
  11. That flowerbed looks very good. It's always so frustrating to spend hours weeding and pulling, only to have the bed look just good. The hydrangeas will be very happy to be able to stretch and grow.
    I didn't know people were afraid of toads or frogs. I guess it's not different than my spider phobia, just didn't know.
    Hope you had a good day today. It's still snowing a little here, just lightly but it's supposed to warm up this week. Yay!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And it's frustrating to get a bed cleared and then within a few weeks to start seeing new sprouts shoot up from the bulbs or roots you didn't get.
      THIS IS MY LIFE!
      You didn't know that some people have frog/toad phobia? Maybe y'all are just braver in Canada. I would not doubt that.
      I did have a good day today and I really hope you get some warmer weather soon.

      Delete
  12. I have finally cut down all the dead stuff from winter. I need to do some weeding but the ground is just too hard so watering has to come first which I've been doing today. I fertilized all my pot plants a few days ago and finally got it all watered in today. Still have to water the pots and shrubs in the little backyard. I was cleaning up my studio room over at the shop on Saturday, now Paisleigh's playroom while daddy works. Let mu just say it was horrible. I filled a very large black trash bag and swept out a small hill of dirt. The toys are a jumble which I did not touch, just tossed wayward things into one of three tubs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I dreamed last night that my children, or at least some children who were representing children of mine, would not clean their rooms up and we had company coming and I was totally stressed out.
      I really do often wake up exhausted.

      Delete
  13. You can bet your boots those bushes will do just fine now that they're getting all the sun and rain for themselves! Fertilizer or not!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As with so many things in this yard, I don't think those hydrangea get enough sun. We are blessed with our oak trees and pecan trees and magnolia trees but it makes growing a lot of things very difficult, if not impossible.

      Delete
  14. See, that is a nice looking toad. The only toads that we see here are cane toads and they are definitely of the not nice looking toads. I prefer frogs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I doubt I could tell the difference between a toad and a frog if I had to.

      Delete
  15. You have often written about tackling weeds but I wonder why you never seem to mention spraying unwanted plants with weedkiller? It could save you a lot of hard work if used sensibly to suppress the invaders.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really do not want to use weedkiller. At one point in my life I did use it at times but now, I just abhor the thought of getting poison in the ground water. And any weedkiller that is relatively safe is not going to do much for a lot of the invasive plants I have, many of which replicate from bulbs down in the earth.

      Delete

Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.