Monday, April 22, 2013

Promise Kept

Frogs, and promises, and long, detailed, rambling blog posts. Hello, Monday.

Honestly, I was only going to post these pictures, and share that we have a small tank full of tadpoles, some rocks, sand, plants, tiny swimmmy things. Neat and simple. Then I remembered that this moment is more significant, that it marks the fulfillment of a promise I made to Max. Then I realized that we have a long frog-love history with Alex and Max. So, I found myself in a Chickenblog archive search, nostalgically revisiting some frog & toad moments from our past.

It's been a long time since our last, successful, tadpole venture. Five years ago, when we were rental rebels at Garage Mahal, I promised Max that yes, some day he could have a pet frog, but that he would have to wait until we were settled in our own home. It's been a long wait. And he has been a patient Batrachologist.

Last we year we made a few trips to our favorite creek, but we were either too early, or too late, and never found any tadpoles.

This time we got it right, which was a happy thing, and also a relief. We know that frogs are essential to a healthy natural environment, and their absence is an indicator of an environment in danger. The hundreds of healthy Pacific Tree Frog tadpoles we found in the quiet eddy at the creek's edge, made us smile.

We brought home plenty of water, local plants, and sand... everything, including zooplankton for our tadpoles to thrive.

Another happy visit to our favorite creek, this time successfully finding tadpoles. It was nice... for the excursion, the picnic, the little adventure among the oaks, and for the promise fulfilled. We'll be returning to the nature center, too, where we can take more notes, and confer with the docents there.

It took a few years to do this... but it feels good taking the time to do it right.

8 comments:

ArtyZen said...

Oh how lovely! Here's wishing you every success in turning tadpole into frog.
I am also wondering how many of those promises I also made... no doubt I shall find out before long.
Axxx

judy in ky said...

When I was a kid we had a creek with tadpoles too. We went every day to check on them.

warren said...

We have frog love here too. My daughter still sings a silly song she made up about tadpoles and frogs every time we pass by a pond where we released some frogs we watched grow from eggs to real-life critters. It's a cool memory!

Anonymous said...

My stepdaughter's nickname is frog! I absolutely loved reading this post. So many people are in such a big hurry these days. It's far more important to take the time to thoroughly understand a topic than it is to just gloss over it. If a person learns something on a deeper level, then they know it forever and can make connections with other subjects. Bravo! Thank you for sharing! P.S. I hope Max continues to keep records on the tadpoles' progress, and these will be posted on your blog.

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

Well, hey, I am just patting myself on the back for ONE
promise... who knows how many I've blown!

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

I should have added "creek" to my "empty lot" post...
every kid should have a creek to visit!

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

Cheers for the ones who love frogs and ponds and silly songs!

Natalie, the Chickenblogger said...

"Frog?" There's gotta be a story there!
Thank you for visiting Chickenblog, and for this thoughtful comment.
You're right... slowing down, taking things in thoroughly, makes life sweet,
and learning more meaningful. I hope we can all open up more time in our
lives for exploring!