Feeling Froggy?

During the Monsoon season in this valley, a little creature starts to show up everytime it rains called the "Colorado River Toad". They are EVERYWHERE!

They are also extremely poisonous to pets if they chomp into them. Somehow, Jack knows this instinctively because eventhough they are all over our porch everynight (eating bugs and hanging out) he stays WAY away from them.

It has rained here for a few days, so a few nights ago we went outside, after a particulary freaky storm, and the air was filled with the sound of their "music". We started laughing because it was SOOOOO loud.

Suddenly, we heard what seemed like a distant cry of a baby calf and it was not coming from where it was supposed to be. It made sense: after an intense storm with extreme lightning and thunder, it would not be uncommon for a baby cow to get out and get lost. It has happened before. That's when we jump in the car and go "herd" it back to it's mommy.

This night, we could hear the cows calling to each other.

Ben jumped in the car and took off while I waited at the house with our 4-year-old, already in bed. After only a few minutes, Ben returned. I walked out of the house and up to his window.

"Come with me."

"I can't...Hayden is in bed."

"Leave him. This will only be a minute and you HAVE to see this. We aren't even going past the hay barns."

Curious, I jumped into the passenger seat and we were off. "What is it?" I kept asking, but Ben just kept laughing and saying, "You'll see."

We made a turn to face the hay barns as the headlights completely lit up the area. There were instant ponds EVERYWHERE and in each pond were hundreds of tiny toad heads resting on the surface of the water. I rolled down the window. The sound was SO loud that I had to raise my voice to talk to Ben.

And then, we heard it. The baby cow. Only it was really a frog. A mating call that sounded JUST like a calf yelling to it's mommy. What we thought was calves calling out was really only toads calling out to find a girlfriend. It was SO loud! Laughing, I rolled up the window and said, "Let's go to sleep! It's the middle of the night."

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MEDICAL UPDATE: Ben is doing okay. I keep him stoned on pain-killer drugs and we have a friend at the Fire House who is helping us change the bandages everyday. (I actually helped him change them last night and eventhough it was greuling...we did it.) His wound is infection-free and we hope to keep it that way. Other than that, it is the same. He sleeps most of the time, which is what we want. My 30th birthday celebration at DisneyLand has been post-poned (my birthday is tomorrow). If you would like to come WITH us to DisneyLand, we will now be going on Thanksgiving Day. I know it's non-traditional, but come....it'll be fun!