Big ol' Toad

Rained all of today. This evening, just as it was getting dark, thought I'd bring in the night's supply of firewood, we have a small stack against the rockwall straight out the door, covered with a small tarp. There are some small stones to hold the tarp in place, I was grabbing them and setting them aside to pull the tarp back. When I grabbed for one of the "stones" I immediately realized the cold rubbery thing in my hand was not a rock. It was a big ol' toad, lovely specimen. I brought her inside for a better look, and to take a picture. I set her in a plastic tote while I brought in the firewood, in the few minutes it took she warmed up and got lively. I got the little camera and tipped her out onto the carpet by the door, then tried to herd her with my right hand onto my left. ("Her", had small ears.) Finally got her cornered, she had to climb onto my hand, then settled long enough to take some quick snaps. I was wanting to measure her but she'd have none of it, so I took her back out and set her back atop the tarp where I'd found her.

I'm having to watch my step when I come out the door, the green frogs are on the move, sometimes 2 or 3 on the walkway. Tanka sees them hopping and then tries to get his big nose on them, they just hop into the goutweed groundcover and hide behind the flowerpots. The peepers have been calling for over a week, there's one outside the window as I type this. It must be sitting somewhere at the side of the house but I haven't found it yet, when I open the door it quits calling.