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Hello From Froggy
"A long time
ago, about fifteen years in people-time, I came onto the scene. I popped in one
day to an interesting looking yard. I saw the residents: a man and a woman, a
dog and a couple of cats digging a BIG hole. I watched in silence as the
hole got bigger. Then to my annoyance, I heard a loud rasping noise and some
horrid banging. What was going on?
"That night, after the residents went into their house, I snuck a look at
what they had been doing. The hole had sides above the ground about 2 feet, and
inside the hole was a big dark green, smooth--and a bit
slippery--lining. I became excited. I saw a wee bit of water
trickling into the hole...What fun! Just up my alley. I sang and sang my beautiful Froggy tune. The lady came
out to see what was making the noise. I shut up. But she knew who it was. I
heard her say, 'Hey! There's a frog in our yard. Isn't that great?'
"That made me
happy. I decided that this would be a perfect place to take up residence.
That night I went and gathered my family. We were moving in! And I wasn't
disappointed. As the days went by, the yard got even more exciting. The couple
kept busy planting interesting plants around the 'fish pond'--as
I learned the construction to be.
"And things just got even better. In the days to come, I saw the couple
spill buckets and buckets of river sand into the hole....Then came the
water--lots of water. And in the pond they planted
water lilies and other water plants. Most exciting, they installed a fountain,
with water spilling back into the pond all the time...Oh, this was going
to be HEAVEN. Every evening my family and I enjoyed sitting around in the reeds,
and under the fountain, singing our froggie
serenade.
* * *
"A few days later, as I was serenading, I glanced into the pond.
There, swimming happily 'round were dozens of fish--mostly tiny ones, but a few
a bit bigger. How exciting! We froggies had company. We settled in. We were home
to stay. And stay we did, for several years. In the winter we would hunker down
in the mud in the bottom of the pool. The fish didn't mind. In fact, being
rather stupid creatures, I doubt they even knew we were there.
"Then one winter, ALAS! There was an extremely cold snap. We froggies,
being exceptionally smart, knew it would be a bad winter, so we took off for a
warmer climate. I'm not going to reveal where that was. It is a 'froggy
secret.'
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
"Things changed after that. We didn't come back for years, not until the
spring of 2009. It was just at
sunset that I began my singing again. I did it for a night or two. I have gotten
rather 'croaky' in my old age, and my song isn't as uplifting as it used to
be... But I did hear the lady of the house tell her mate: 'Our froggy is back!'
I smiled, like only a frog can smile...And I listened, as only a froggy can
listen. I knew she was happy to hear us again. She didn't mind my
'croaking'. I guess she was getting older too.
"But I sure was curious why
the deep hole, the "fish pond" was no longer there. Now instead, there was a
ramp where the pond used to be. And I noted too, in the day or two that I stuck
around, that the beautiful yard was, although still beautiful, looking more like
a jungle. I remember the
well-trimmed trees and well-groomed yard, and immaculate garden. Now everything
seemed just like it is in the 'wild.' But I liked it. I liked this look. There
were lots of places to hide…And hide I did. And listen I did….Here is the story
I heard from the residents, the sad story about what took place that awful
winter, those many years ago......
Listen to the tale, as told by the lady of the
house:
"When we first moved here, in 1991, we built an above-the-ground
fish pond in our back yard. It was quite the construction. The sides were logs,
and the inside was lined with the proper plastic lining, made especially for
fish ponds. We put about 100 tiny 'feeder' gold fish into it, and a few
coy. It was a joy to see these tiny fish grow and grow and
grow. The fish pond was a means of great relaxation and enjoyment
for years.
TRANQUILITY
To calm my soul when life is
hard,
I find respite in my back
yard,
And inner turmoil, disregard.
I sit and stare into the
pond.
I watch the fish swim 'round and
'round.
They do no worry what's
beyond.
The fish know only what they
see.
They have no care of what will
be.
I learn from them,
tranquility.
"We don't usually have severe winters here
in S.W. British Columbia,
and even when the fish pond froze over with a thin sheet of ice, as
it did for a day or so each winter, we could still see the fish swimming slowly
around under the ice. But one winter--about 1997--we had a nasty cold
snap in January. We weren't too worried when the pond froze over, but seeing
that a piece of cedar board had been blown into the pond and had frozen there,
and knowing that cedar is poisonous to fish, the man of the house
reached in to take the board out. To his surprise, the ice crumbled, revealing
the fact that the water in the pond had drained out.
^ ^ ^
"At the bottom
of the pond lay a pile of frozen fish. There was nothing we could do but wait a
few days, until the ice melted before we could dispose of the fish. Sadly we
deposited a hundred or so frozen fishies into our compost pile.
That was a good indication that it was time we disassemble the fish pond.
It's upkeep had been a tremendous amount of work and expense, and we
were getting older.
"When we began
scooping the dead fish out of the pond, to our amazement, at the bottom of the
pond was one little fish, about two
inches long. He was swimming around in circles in a tiny
pool of water. So we scooped him out into a pail. Now, what were we
going to do with this little guy? We didn't have an aquarium in the house
any longer, as we had once had, but we did have a small one in storage. So
we cleaned it up and fixed a new home for--'Survivor.' In time, feeling
sorry for him swimming around in such a small area, we got a larger tank.
"At the same
time that we made the big pond, we made a little in-ground pond,
from a discarded bathtub, lined with heavy plastic. In it we would put a few
"feeder" fish for the summer, transferring them to the large pond for the
winter. But when the big pond was dismantled, we just kept this small pond as a
yard attraction, placing rocks and rock plants around it, but no longer stocking
it with fish.
~ ~ ~
"One day my younger sister came visiting. When we walked into
the living room, she gasped. There was "Survivor" flipping and flopping around
on the carpet--he must have just jumped out.
"I
quickly scooped him up and threw him back into the acquarium, rubbing the
dust and slime off his back, expecting that that would be the end of
"Survivor." But he opened and closed his mouth a few times--and began his usual
frantic swim, investigating his domain. That was about three years
ago. We nick-named him "Double Survivor." He didn't seem to
mind his solitude. He is just an ordinary gold fish, oblivious to the
world, expecting nothing but his daily food. In time he grew to
about 6 inches.
"Then early the spring of 2008, along came
fishy #2. We heard of someone wanting to give a fish away. 'Oh, it
would be nice if Survivor had a companion!' I thought. When I picked the fish up, I was delighted. It was an oranda, a
beautiful "finny" orange fish, about 3 inches long, with a face that
looks a bit like a puppy dog. She is quite the character, very
active and inquisitive, unlike her new companion, Survivor. Her name
HAD to "Finnegan."
"We picked up a couple more small fish at the animal store to
put in with Survivor and Finnegan. These we named 'Rusty' and 'Casey,'
after two little puppets on childrens' shows of years ago, 'Friendly
Giant' and 'Mr. Dressup.' Then when
another fishy joined the aquarium, a silver one, he HAD to be
'Casper, the friendly
ghost.'
"We heard that if you put fish into an outdoor pond, they
would feed on the mosquito larvae.
So early in the spring of 2008 we decided to try
it. We bought a dozen 'feeder' fish--tiny fish not much
bigger than a sliver--to put into the small pond. It must have worked. We
had very few mosquitoes.
"It began
getting cold out--typical October weather--windy, but sunny
still. We decided that it was time to clean out our small outdoor
fish pond and bring the fish in. So we collected the fish that had
been doing their duty all summer--eating mosquito larvae and other bugs that
fell into the pond--and brought them into the house to join the other fish
in our aquarium. They looked small in comparison to their
tank-mates."
The
newly-brought-in other fish, shall remain nameless.
Froggie
speaks again: 2009 - "Well, I'm back now, singing my heart out. I
know the people of the house are happy to hear me croak, although it is more of
a rasp now, than a croak. I've heard the people of the house comment that
they wish they could find out where I hide. But that's my secret.
"Now,
before I quit my tale, I want to relate one more thing. It's a bit of a sad
tale: One day, it was July 18, 2009, I was silently watching from my secret
hiding place, when I saw the lady of the house come out with a dead fish cradled
in her hand. I stopped my croaking and strained to hear what she was saying.
Sounded like she was talking to the dead fish! 'Well, Good bye 'Double
Survivor'. You've lived a long life--fifteen years! We saw you struggle one last
time to survive, but you were just too tired. You knew it was time to go. May
you rest in peace, buried in this tomato planter. You'll make good
fertilizer." (And she was right!. The tomato plant is now 8 to
10 feet tall.)
"I shed a tear
or two for old Survivor, and I wondered how much longer I would be around...But
I am a frog. Our species can live a lot of years....
Here is my farewell song:
I'm just a little froggie.
I sing at dusk or dawn.
So please don't try to find me.
I'm likely hiding in in your
lawn.
Just let me be, to serenade.
And do what frogs do best.
I'll catch your flies. I do no
harm.
Just let me be, to serenade.
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