We've Been Invaded Again

We put a pond in our back yard six years ago. I wanted a pond in the back corner because it would give me a good view out the dinette window every time I sat down to eat. There's such beauty and peace to be found in gazing on still water. I've loved it, all my life. I surrounded the pond with field stones, to cover the pond liner and because I love rocks. I added a few water garden plants for their added beauty and to help keep the water from stagnating. To top it all off, I added a water lily. What is a pond without a water lily? The painter Monet would have been a penniless recluse, but for water lilies. Once the pond was in, I got a wonderful fringe benefit: I can also see it perfectly from my kitchen sink window.

That's all I wanted. No fish. No bubbly noisy fountain. No fuss. Just quiet water. I knew I'd get some insects flitting over the waters' surface and a few birds now and then stopping by to sip water from the water's edge. We also got unexpected visitors that first year--a couple of frogs that found us out of nowhere. They came back, along with a few offspring, every summer, but that was okay. I still had my serene scene to enjoy. Until two years ago. Then we got more than we bargained for.

One sunny June day my daughter took a look in the pond as she walked by and discovered little black critters skittering around--dozens of them! Tadpoles! Everywhere! We thought our frog family of four was okay, but a whole frog factory? This was too much. We watched them for weeks, wondering when they would morph into the real thing and what would happen to all of them, especially if they grew to full size and hung around. Yuk! Then one day they disappeared. We wondered what had happened to them, but we didn't have to wonder for long. A few days later, we found dozens and dozens of baby frogs hopping around on the path around the pond. They stuck around for a few days and then disappeared again, this time for good.

I didn't know where they had gone until one day several weeks later I had coffee with my neighbor across the road. As we were visiting, she happened to mention that there was a virtual invasion of little frogs down by their creek that summer. I hummed and hawed, knowing for sure where the "neighborhood disturbance" had come from. Apparently they didn't hang around too long there either, because they had left by that time. I don't know if she ever found out where they came from, but I'm pretty sure she'll know before long. Yesterday my daughter happened to walk along the edge of the pond and noticed in the shallow water--you guessed it. Dozens and dozens of pollywogs again. I don't think we'll be able to keep the secret this year. Too many neighbors have heard stories . . . . Stay tuned for later developments.

Posting from the frog factory,
Margaret