Catching a Toad

That's not a euphemism for anything; I really had to catch a toad this morning. I walked out onto my back porch with my cat this morning (the little dog is having a sleepover with her pup this week), and I guess that's when it came inside. I'm not sure. But before I'd had my first cup of coffee I noticed a scared small toad (or frog, I'm not always sure how to tell the difference, but I think it was a toad) in the hallway off my kitchen. Pre-coffee is not a great time for me to deal with anything. I decided to get back to in in a few minutes. The bedroom and bathroom doors were closed, so there wasn't anywhere he could go. He was was small but not tiny. I had a few sips of coffee in the kitchen (as usual I became impatient during the brewing process and poured out the few drops that had made their way to the pot) and went back to take another look at the toad. He was gone.

I knew he was somewhere in the house, and I knew the cat was on the porch and not bothering the toad. I found him near the washing machine and looked at him while figuring out the best way to return him to the wild. I decided on a hop-on-the-box method (for the toad, not for me), but I wasn't quite ready to deal with him yet. I poured some more coffee, sat down and drank a cup, and went back to the laundry area with a box. No toad. I found him under my desk, but the angle I would need to achieve to retrieve him was one I wasn't up to yet.

I walked back out on the porch to make sure the cat was still outside. She was. I did a load of laundry and poured another cup of coffee. As I came back into the living room, I saw the cat sitting next to the piano. She was staring hard at something. I followed her line of vision and saw the toad. It was now or never, as far as Mr. Toad's salvation went. I flattened one side of the box and encouraged him to jump on. He wasn't as cooperative as I'd hoped. A little more urging -- in the form of a gentle push with my flip-flop -- got him aboard. I took him out to the freshly raked and mulched area around one of the big trees in my yard and released him. I'm not sure he was happy, but he didn't seem to mind. He'll never know how close he came to being batted around (best-case scenario) by the cat, but I'll know. Hop away, little toad. Be free!