" Of Toads and Galavanting !"

I found another toad in my yard the other day, this excites me to no end! And let me tell you, he was absolutely beautiful in my eyes. He or she (I don't know how to tell the difference!) wasn't the same one that Jake had found the week previous. No, this guy or gal was huge! About four inches long and a bit chubby I might add.

I am so thrilled to have a toad or two or maybe even more in my little yard. I looked up how to make a toad house which I had never even heard of until my DIL Amy, said that I should make a toad house! 

So I have all of the supplies already and am going to work on this tomorrow. When I first spotted him I thought it funny that he was sitting next to Jake's frog statues. I quickly ran into the house for my camera and this was my first photo of him. It looks all fancy like I photo shopped it but in actuality it was the overwhelming humidity that caused this effect!

After a few minutes the condensation disappeared and this is what I got.

When he moved to the stepping stone in the first photo, I did pet him. Oh I know I am being a silly woman but I have fond memories of toads. 

When I was a young girl, I would spend some weeks of the summers with my great-grandmother Earlie May Van, in Angola Indiana. Being born and raised a city girl, the country lake setting was truly new and fascinating to me.

I don't remember if it was my Grandmother or my cousin Roxanne that first taught me how to catch them, but I do remember feeling infatuated by them.

My Grandmother gave me a coffee can and lid in which we poked holes into. I put grass inside and of coarse a bug or two, here and there.

You can only imagine my heartbreak when it came time for me to go back home to Chicago and was told why I wouldn't be able to take my friend with me. Through my tears I set the coffee can on it's side and thought surely my little friend would hop away to freedom. As I sat and waited several minutes, my heart started to warm at the thought that my little toad friend had come to love me too. He didn't want to leave me!

Well he eventually jumped out of the can but I always felt after those few minutes, that he could have really been my pet. Just not in the big city. And I did understand this back then, yet still it hurt.

So call me a silly woman if you will but I still am excited about finding two toads in our yard. Alright now, dry those tears as I am about to babble on some more. It's hard to read through the tears. 

Today was a busy day. I had to take my Pug Ruby to the vet at 7:45 to get her nails trimmed. I forgot that yesterday was a holiday and there where seven dogs and four cats waiting! And while we were the third appointment we still had to wait a long while. This made Ruby very upset and anxious. Poor thing was just a nervous wreak! Right after we got out of there and were on our way home, I noticed that she was squinting out of her right eye. She's been squinting all day. I am hoping that she may have just scratched it with her nail. I have been putting warm rags on it this evening and will see if it clears by tomorrow. I may be taking her back.

I got home around 8:45 and got Kate up. She wanted to spend the night at her friends house and wanted to get there early. This was fine with me as I had a couple of hours of work to do at church anyway. So I dropped her off and got a bit of office work done. I'll have to go back later in the week to finish.

Next stop, Lowes. I needed dirt. I came out of there with dirt and a new blue spruce tree. Don't ask. All I can say is that it was a great price and I love conifers almost as much as toads!

Wal-mart was next in line for a few groceries and than back home. I fixed myself some lunch and decided to test out the new sewing machine. Man that baby is nice! It seems way more powerful than my old machine and for the first time in my life I was able to do a zig zag stitch! All of the sewing that I've done and was never able to do that stitch because my old machine didn't work well anymore. Now I am anxious to start a new project, after the toad house of coarse!

I got a bit bored again after that. I wanted to work outside so badly but it was 89 degrees, sunny and humid so I went back to town and bought a couple of sun dresses to wear around the house. I have a few patterns for some and I may end up traveling out of town for fabric to make a couple more. And I just couldn't resist a new bandanna for my collection. It is very cute!

I also picked up some sunscreen, bug repellent and bug bite cream for Katie's trip to camp next week. She leaves on Sunday. I will have a couple of days to work that week but then I am hoping to spend some time with my son and his family.

I plan on spending the rest of the evening watching a movie or two that I had rented from the library a few days ago. Has anyone seen "Seven Pounds" with Will Smith? I like his movies and am looking forward to it.

I am going to leave you this evening with a few more photos. They are of my grandson, Jack and his new bike. And my granddaughter, Sarah with her new bike sporting a very chic new hairstyle.

I hope you all had a good day and a quite and peace filled evening, God Bless.