Yesterday, Mark and I made our way to the pier to check the crab traps and soft-shell boxes. Once these were baited, we made our way back up the pier. An incoming squall had cut our fishing wishes to the bone so we might as well head to the house. Following behind Mark as we made our way, I noticed that we had a small visitor at the end of the pier. Just before stepping off onto dry ground, I noticed a Southern Leopard frog in the tall grass. The critter was enjoying his breakfast but it seems that his choice of the main course was fighting back. Our froggy friend had decided that crab was on the menu!
The frog had ahold to one of the Fiddler Crab's claws while the other claw was frantically being flailed in attack. The smart frog had at least had the commonsense to grab the larger claw as the tiny one would not do as much damage to the frog's tough skin.
I am not sure if Fiddler Crabs are a mainstay of the Southern Leopard Frog's diet but our friend was sure going to give it a try! The Bayou Frog is here to stay....at least, until something larger finds him to be a tasty treat.
My goodness, today was beautiful! So beautiful, in fact, that I just could not stay inside and do housework! The gardens were calling my name and I yielded to the whim to escape to the fresh air and sunshine! On the agenda today.....clean out the little pond in the backyard, fertilize the fruit trees and attempt to design the herb garden. Yep, there was a lot going on today! I asked Son which he would like to do..as if I did not already know which he did NOT want to tackle. He opted to fertilize the trees..rats..I knew he would never choose the pond! Well..I donned the oldest shoes and jeans that I own and set to work. This is never a really difficult job, it is more or less just a smelly job. I have a pump that siphons all of the water in just a short time so that makes life a lot easier. The smelly part comes from the rotted leaves and plant matter that has settled in the bottom over the winter months. I never clean the pond during the cold months so that the turtles and frogs will have enough warmth to survive. There are always several of each that hide in among the Water Lilies and Duck Potatoes. Here they have protection from the raccoons and the rotted vegetation gives them a nice hibernation spot. Today though, I never thought about the frogs or turtles ..I was a woman on a mission! I wanted the pond clean and nice smelling for the Spring! It was time to catch a few of the bull minnows from the Bayou to restock this little pond. I always toss a few minnows in for the duration of the summer merely to eat the mosquito larvae. They do well in the isolated pond since there are few predators nearby. Later, in the Fall, I release them back into the Bayou so they will not perish if the pond freezes. But for today, I just needed to remove the nasty debris in the bottom. 
