itsmecindi
Gold Member
During wet season, we are literally crawling with frogs. The little lime green ones paste themselves to the front of the house by the hundreds, waiting for mosquitos or whatever to fly by. Somehow it seems to improve their bug catching odds, when they have the light from the windows of the house behind them.
We run over the big dark green ones in the road. It's like something out of a science fiction movie. The kids make a game of odds, to see which ones will end up under the tires. The medium sized brownish-green ones are all over the porch, the bar-b- que pit, the lawn furniture, and in one case, I was talking to my husband Fred on the porch before feeding time. I stuck my bare foot into a rubber boot and it wouldn't go in. I pulled the boot off thinking I had grabbed one of the kids boots by accident, so I upended it to check the size that was printed on the sole, and three frogs about the size of plum tomatoes fell out. I just giggled, and Fred shuddered all over.
In the fall of 2002, our orange grove stood in eight inches of water for days. We had so much rain that we lost dozens of orange trees to wet root. The roads were under water, the river was way up, there were carcasses of gators all over the roads where they had been run over. It was so wet they were moving from ditch to ditch and setting up housekeeping. One Saturday night about midnight, I was standing at the sink doing something, and I heard the unmistakable sound of a wild baby turkey. It was so loud it carried all the way from the grove to the house. My daughter Jill and I had been up watching movies, and she had just drifted off to sleep on the couch. I woke her up.
"Jill, you have to go with me! There's a wild baby turkey out in the grove! Let's go catch it!"
"Whuuuu....?" She blinked at me. "Baby whuu...?"
"I think it got separated from it's mother! C'mon, put your boots on!"
"Baby turk...whuuu....?"
"Just COME ON!"
Finally I got her on her feet and out the door we went, rubber knee boots on, clutching a flashlight and each other, as we are both kinda scared of the dark.We walked the hundred or so yards to the edge of the grove.
PEEP PEEP!
"See? Hear it?" I saked Jill.
"Yeah, I hear it! It's coming from over there!" She pointed and we moved together like one person in the direction we had heard the peep. Splash splash splash.
PEEP PEEP!
"No!" I said, "It's coming from over there!" I pointed in the exact opposite direction of where we were heading. We turned around and went the other way.
PEEP!
"No, over here...tsk! Mom! We'll never catch him! He's running around in circles! One second he's here, then he's there! He knows we're trying to catch him! I didn't know they could move this fast! Give me the flashlight!"
I gave her the flashlight, and despite my fear of the dark I headed off in the direction I had heard the last peep. I thought if he couldn't see me, then maybe I could catch him.
"Mom."
"Shhh!" I ordered. "I'm on his tail!"
"Mom!"
Then I heard the peep from behind me again. Grrrrrr!
"WHAT!?"
"Mom, it's not a turkey, it's frogs!"
Here's where I got all mom-like.
"Jill. Honey. I think I KNOW what a frog sounds like."
"Would you please just c'mere?"
Splash splash splash.
"What!?"
"Look."
There in a puddle, sitting serenely in the glow of the flashlight beam, was a little green and red frog about the size of an M and M peanut candy. As we watched, his neck swelled up about the size of a ping pong ball.
"Ick! It's gonna pop!" Jill said.
But it didn't, and when it deflated it, it let out the loudest 'PEEEEP' I had ever heard. The little son of a gun! I wanted to step on him just for principle. We had just been on a 'snipe' hunt, courtesy of God.
We were both stricken with a bout of uncontrollable laughter.
"Some turkey mom! Shame we couldn't catch it, we could have had him for thanksgiving!" Yuk, yuk, yuk.
"Pffft....you get to stuff him, Jill!" Guffaw, guffaw.
"Yeah...stuff him up your NOSE for dragging me out here in the middle of the night!" She kicked water at me.
"Well," I said, "this explains how the sound was coming from so many different directions. It wasn't a fast baby turkey, it was frogs all over the place!"
"Mom, do you even know what a baby wild turkey sounds like?"
She shined the flashlight on my face. I coulda lied.
"Well, no, but I would think it would sound just like these little frogs." I said.
"Sheesh. You're a mess, you know that?"
We made our way back to the house leaning on each other and laughing so hard, that there was an impromptu wrestling match just inside the front door to see who got the bathroom first. To date, I have never heard another wild baby turkey out in the grove in the middle of the night searching for his mother, and even if I had, one thing is for sure, Jill would NOT help me go look for it. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
We run over the big dark green ones in the road. It's like something out of a science fiction movie. The kids make a game of odds, to see which ones will end up under the tires. The medium sized brownish-green ones are all over the porch, the bar-b- que pit, the lawn furniture, and in one case, I was talking to my husband Fred on the porch before feeding time. I stuck my bare foot into a rubber boot and it wouldn't go in. I pulled the boot off thinking I had grabbed one of the kids boots by accident, so I upended it to check the size that was printed on the sole, and three frogs about the size of plum tomatoes fell out. I just giggled, and Fred shuddered all over.
In the fall of 2002, our orange grove stood in eight inches of water for days. We had so much rain that we lost dozens of orange trees to wet root. The roads were under water, the river was way up, there were carcasses of gators all over the roads where they had been run over. It was so wet they were moving from ditch to ditch and setting up housekeeping. One Saturday night about midnight, I was standing at the sink doing something, and I heard the unmistakable sound of a wild baby turkey. It was so loud it carried all the way from the grove to the house. My daughter Jill and I had been up watching movies, and she had just drifted off to sleep on the couch. I woke her up.
"Jill, you have to go with me! There's a wild baby turkey out in the grove! Let's go catch it!"
"Whuuuu....?" She blinked at me. "Baby whuu...?"
"I think it got separated from it's mother! C'mon, put your boots on!"
"Baby turk...whuuu....?"
"Just COME ON!"
Finally I got her on her feet and out the door we went, rubber knee boots on, clutching a flashlight and each other, as we are both kinda scared of the dark.We walked the hundred or so yards to the edge of the grove.
PEEP PEEP!
"See? Hear it?" I saked Jill.
"Yeah, I hear it! It's coming from over there!" She pointed and we moved together like one person in the direction we had heard the peep. Splash splash splash.
PEEP PEEP!
"No!" I said, "It's coming from over there!" I pointed in the exact opposite direction of where we were heading. We turned around and went the other way.
PEEP!
"No, over here...tsk! Mom! We'll never catch him! He's running around in circles! One second he's here, then he's there! He knows we're trying to catch him! I didn't know they could move this fast! Give me the flashlight!"
I gave her the flashlight, and despite my fear of the dark I headed off in the direction I had heard the last peep. I thought if he couldn't see me, then maybe I could catch him.
"Mom."
"Shhh!" I ordered. "I'm on his tail!"
"Mom!"
Then I heard the peep from behind me again. Grrrrrr!
"WHAT!?"
"Mom, it's not a turkey, it's frogs!"
Here's where I got all mom-like.
"Jill. Honey. I think I KNOW what a frog sounds like."
"Would you please just c'mere?"
Splash splash splash.
"What!?"
"Look."
There in a puddle, sitting serenely in the glow of the flashlight beam, was a little green and red frog about the size of an M and M peanut candy. As we watched, his neck swelled up about the size of a ping pong ball.
"Ick! It's gonna pop!" Jill said.
But it didn't, and when it deflated it, it let out the loudest 'PEEEEP' I had ever heard. The little son of a gun! I wanted to step on him just for principle. We had just been on a 'snipe' hunt, courtesy of God.
We were both stricken with a bout of uncontrollable laughter.
"Some turkey mom! Shame we couldn't catch it, we could have had him for thanksgiving!" Yuk, yuk, yuk.
"Pffft....you get to stuff him, Jill!" Guffaw, guffaw.
"Yeah...stuff him up your NOSE for dragging me out here in the middle of the night!" She kicked water at me.
"Well," I said, "this explains how the sound was coming from so many different directions. It wasn't a fast baby turkey, it was frogs all over the place!"
"Mom, do you even know what a baby wild turkey sounds like?"
She shined the flashlight on my face. I coulda lied.
"Well, no, but I would think it would sound just like these little frogs." I said.
"Sheesh. You're a mess, you know that?"
We made our way back to the house leaning on each other and laughing so hard, that there was an impromptu wrestling match just inside the front door to see who got the bathroom first. To date, I have never heard another wild baby turkey out in the grove in the middle of the night searching for his mother, and even if I had, one thing is for sure, Jill would NOT help me go look for it. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
