Frogs Need Friends, Too!

  Every now and again, it is sort of amusing to pull a fast one on your friends.  A simple prank can lead to a lot of laughs.  Today, I sort of did just that.  While in the garden early this morning, I found a tiny critter friend trying its best to find a warm spot to spend the day.  A tad of cooler weather had hit the Bayou and the summertime critters were finding it hard to cope.  A little green tree frog had climbed up on the ruby lily leaves to bask in the warm sunshine. 

  About the same time I found the little frog, a friend came calling.  Darlene has not been to the Bayou in a few weeks and she needed a little "fishing therapy", as she calls it.  That sounded like a good idea but, first, I wanted to show her the frog.  "Watch this!" I told her. "I have a little friend!"  I eased my hand down to where the frog was resting.  As soon as I placed it near the frog, it climbed into my open hand.. "Oh, my gosh.  Now you are making friends with the frogs!" she exclaimed. 

  Yep, the little frog and I had an understanding.  I would not hurt it and it would keep the garden free from pests.  Nope, I had not trained the frog to climb on my hand.  In fact, I cannot even be sure that I had ever seen this particular frog before.  Other than the frog trusting me, there was a bit of "magic" in the incident.

  The little tree frog was cold.  While the sun was warming it some, the leaves were still holding the coldness from the night before.  My hand was warm and the tiny frog knew that, by climbing aboard, it would warm faster and could escape quicker if need be.  My body heat was being transferred to the little critter.  After a few seconds, I tried to put the frog back on the leaf.  It was having no part of this action and climbed back onto my hand immediately.  Ok, my little prank was backfiring!  I now was stuck holding the frog!  It took a good five minutes before the frog was willing to leave my hand and go back to basking.   By this time, it had warmed itself grandly and was now able to purely enjoy the sunshine.  Its good to help a friend.....even critter friends.