Watering the toads

It's been quite hot here in St. Louis for the last week or so, and dry. Well, "dry" is maybe not descriptive enough, so I'll clarify by saying that although it's been very humid there has been no rain for a while.

So I've been pouring on the water in the last couple of days. When I water I want to get a large amount of water into the ground as quickly as possible, so I typically do not use any sort of spray attachment on the end of the hose. This means that all of the cracks and holes in the ground experience a momentary "flood" as they fill before the desiccated soil absorbs the moisture.

***

This small toad -- the size of a large grape -- surprised me by squeezing his head out of one such water-filled hole then emerging with a confused expression on his face. Okay, I don't know how to read toad expressions, but I assume that he was some mixture of glad that he got some water and frightened at being flooded out of his hidey-hole.

At the way he squeezed out of that hole, I wonder if he went back into it after I left, or if he had to find a bigger one? Toads are quite fascinating to me, especially the small ones. (I still see tiny ones hopping around near the pond too, which might be my favorites.)


Posts over the next week or so will be shorter than normal, but hopefully I'll still be able to entertain. I may miss a day here or there as well, but things should return to normal by the end of next week.

.