Our Newest Visitor

I opened up the small plastic worm bin to find:

Mr. Hops

Yep. Big giant dork. Named the brown tree frog I found in my worm bin. 

I haven't seen a frog up close since time outta mind. I can't remember when I held one last. And there he was, chilling and relaxing all cool and all shooting some larvae outside of the bin...*

I hauled him out and spent a while showing him off to the Tot, then explained what he was, how he ate, where he likes to sleep, how his legs worked and then, horror upon horrors, I said: "Let us keep him in a terrarium and he will be ours."

Then I stopped, with this slimy piece of amphibian magic in my hands, and shook my head in disgust. All of a sudden, I felt like General Custer. Can't explain why THAT reference popped into my head, except for perhaps a distant link to sequestering and holding dominion over a group of people (such as whites did to Native Americans during westward expansion). I somewhat doubt Mr. Hops will rally his frog friends to take advantage of my poorly laid out attack strategy and cut me and my troops down where we stand. Then scalp me and take my shoes. 

But I felt like I was completely taking advantage of and unfairly imprisoning an organism that needed to truly just live outside and be free from human intervention. Jeez. We've done enough. Us and our big stupid brains.

Good Grief, what is that knee jerk reaction I have to take everything under my wing and nurture it into oblivion? Frogs do just fine on their own in the wild. They eat just fine. Breed just fine. And die just fine without any intervention by yours truly. I have already altered the landscape of the world enough just by living in it, I don't need to take just ALL the creatures and put them in terrariums. 

Anyhow. Mr. Hops, AKA anonymous tree frog went back into the grass, where he is now hopefully procreating like a natural soldier and populating my new yard with frogs for me to enjoy from a distance for years to come. I will just enjoy my yard art, instead.

Thank you, Mr. Anonymous Tree Frog, for teaching me that I don't need to get my mitts into every single little goddamn thing. That I can just let things be. And enjoy them for what they are. 

*Fresh Prince Reference. Dig it. Anyone who grew up and was a teenager in the 90's KNOWS that song.