Toadie

On one of our hikes we saw a toad who had been in a scuffle with something. He was pretty beat up. He was missing an eye and had a small bleeding wound on his nose. Me being me, I wanted to take him home and nurse him back to health. We had nothing to keep it in and no one wanted to carry it back to the hotel. Will asked, "Can I kick him?" I was horrified, but chalked it up to boys being boys and just said, "No, baby. Let's leave him alone." I took pics, I was gonna post them until when we got back Will started crying about "Toadie". Paul ran back up the trail with a bag, he was gonna bring the toad back. We made up a box with leaves, moss, bark, etc. Toadie wasn't found.

Will was sad all evening about it. He didn't want Toadie to be eaten or die. I did my best to console him and teach him the ways of nature. I said, "If we were meant to have him, we would. He and the forest are better off with him where he is, where ever that may be." I don't know how much better he felt. But I could identify with what he was feeling. I recall feeling such guilt fishing with my dad. "That fish would still be alive if I hadn't caught him!! (tears)" "Dad! Stop hitting it with a rock!! ITS STILL BREATHING!" I recall my brother bringing a small perch home from Sweet Briar because he couldn't bear to think what would happen to him after the fishing hook poked through its eye (or something equally lethal).

The next day I found a baby toad hoping along the trail we were hiking on. We were very close to the hotel and the box we made for Toadie was still made up. So, you guessed it...I carried it back. Then a few hours later, after swimming at the beach, Baile found another baby toad. How in one day we see two toads when we hadn't seen any prior is ironic...or not. Ask Alanis about irony :)

So now we have two baby toads. They are named TB (b/c he looks like tree bark) and Joey. I don't know what baby toads eat. I hope we figure it out soon. I can't be the cause of the demise of two could-be toads from the Black Forest :) Here is a pic of them in their new habitat.