life:: frog down

Close Encounters of the Wild Kind.

Little Dude got his 5 seconds of fame (that’s like 15 minutes of fame in frog-years), and now his offspring is in the spotlight.

Little Dude and Dudette must have been gettin busy in the tree-house-o-love umbrella, because we have a new miniature friend on the deck now.

Meet Mini Dude.

So, I came home from work in 100 degree weather and looked out the kitchen windows at my struggling plants to see they were gasping for a drink.  I kicked off my heels and grabbed the watering can to rescue them.  I made three trips without incident, and the last time through the door it happened.

Had I looked up above the door-sill, I would have been prepared.

I did not look up.

I was not prepared.

As I stepped through the door, our new friend Mini Dude landed first on my arm and then cartwheeled to the dining floor.

I screamed & dropped the watering can.

FROG DOWN!

Faster than lightning he was across the dining room and under the recliner in the living room.  But he did not stop there. No. He climbed up inside the recliner.  My son, my oh-so-grown-up son, ran to my aid.

All I could think while standing frozen in the doorway, watering can at my feet was that frogs CANNOT live indoors!

What you need to know at this point is that while I absolutely adore wildlife, I am NOT equipped to deal with removing said wildlife from my home.  I was the girl that used to put a drinking glass over a spider and walk around it for 3 days while my husband was on a business trip just so he could smush it for me.  Yes, THAT MUCH OF A GIRLY-GIRL.

(BTW – I can smush my own spiders now thank you very much)

But back to my son…that wonderful son of mine!  He immediately got the pillow and blanket out of the way, flipped the recliner over and caught Mini Dude.  He deposited him back out on the deck in 10 seconds flat.

I am so thankful I was not home alone.  Oh, the humanity!

After all was said and done, what did I do?  Well of course, I whipped out the camera to welcome the little shrimp of a thing to the family.  As long as he wasn’t in my house – he was adorable again.  A couple of Cali hairs stuck to his side, but none the worse for wear.

He really is cute and tiny and only about a third of the size of Little Dude & Dudette.

Since I don’t have a current shot of Dudette, I looked into my archives to show you these from last summer.

On this particular day, she narrowly escaped death by making a suicidal leap off the high side of the deck.

She survived unscathed, but it was a good thing she made that leap of faith because Cali tends to play with her toys till they die.