Thursday, June 14, 2012

A Frog Went A Courtin' ...

Hey, it's mid-June -- that means it's time to open the money pit, er, our in-ground pool.  We've never felt competent to do it ourselves (uh, we experimented closing down the cottage once ourselves.  Can you say burst pipes and an emergency call to the plumber?), so we know when we're licked.  Still, there are a number of jobs one has to do before Pool Man comes in June.  The snow and rain accumulates on the top of the pool cover and it's our job to get that water (and all the leaves and other crap) off, as well as raise the water level.

We've been dilligent about keeping water off, and this year, have kept nearly all the crud off, too.  However, there are little bits and pieces (and lots of pine needles) that are difficult to retrieve.  And then there are the frogs.

PolliwogsThe top of our pool is like a motel that rents rooms by the hour.  Frogs, frogs, frogs there for one reason:  sex.  And polliwogs!  OMG--back in May, we had a gazillion of them.  But nature took care of that.  No rain, the pool cover dried completely, and no more polliwogs.  (Birds find them tasty snacks, you know.)

It rained a lot during the past week, so it was time to get out the submersible pump and get the water off.  Only...there was a BIG Frog in there, and I didn't want it to get sucked into the pump.  (BTW, I am AFRAID OF FROGS, but I regularly save them from drowning.)  So, out came the skimmer, only ... this wasn't one big frog, just one good sized frog with a another on its back--certainly nothing I've ever seen before.

Frogs with pump

Okay.  Were they just friends?  Man and wife?  Man and husband?  (Hey, NY state doesn't discriminate.)  We considered throwing a bridal shower, but hey--maybe this was just yet another hook up.

Or maybe not.
Frogs full face

During the 2-3 hours we pumped off the water, the frogs were removed FOUR TIMES and the kept coming back.  We even removed them to the far corner of the yard and ... boom, twenty minutes later, back they came.  After a while, we said, "The hell with you!"  The pump was removed and the last we looked they were still underwater just ... sitting there.

So, anybody have any ideas about this odd frog behavior?
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