As I am sure most of you are aware by now (because I've told you several times) Jeremiah, international toad of mystery, said a tearful goodbye to us on Easter Sunday and went off in search for his toad wife that he was separated from last winter. It was quite sad as we had become very close friends but when true love calls you have to answer.
It was an emotional day for all of us, including Jeremiah.
It was easy enough to believe as there was definitely a strong family resemblance but I was surprising that my little J-Rock could be gone for 2 months and make that many kids. As J.J. explained it, his father knew that he would be leaving on Easter but did not want to make his good-bye any harder than it needed to be, especially after my father's heart attack on Good Friday. So the night before he left Jeremiah gave Mollie an extra-special hug and a kiss and me a manly/toadly high-five. Then on Easter when no one was looking he scaled his outdoor terrarium and hopped to the tree line. J.J said his dad told him the hardest part about leaving was that he could hear us calling for him to come back, but he knew that if he turned around he would never find his toad love. So on his epic journey he continued.
After defeating a gang of crows with the deadly speed and precision of ninjukai taijutsu, smacking around a black bear, and outwitting the evil copperhead snake twins (apparently he got them to fight amongst themselves while he walked past them) he was reunited with his love, Marietta. And then they got busy in a big way, as is obvious by the 10,000 tadpoles they hatched. According to J.J., Jeremiah has been taking it easy and spending lots of time with Marietta. And I don't blame him for wanting to spend as much time as possible with her. To go through the challenges and dangers that he battled to get back to her, I would be surprised if he ever left her side again. Just knowing that he is happy is good enough for me.
J.J. in Mollie's hand as he told us his father's story. He's all of 3 months old.
J.J. and some of his siblings have made a point to come by whenever I'm at the in-laws to give me updates and whatnot. I was so inspired by my friend Jeremiah that I have founded the Amphibian Rescue Federation, or ARF for short, (and yes I am aware that ARF would be a better name for a dog rescue group but bite me, it's my rescue team not yours). Actually, it was not so much inspired by Jeremiah as it was by me not liking dead toads in our swimming pool. Never having an in-ground pool before I was unaware that small animals would crawl into it in search of water at night and then drown because they are unable to get out. Then a few weeks after Jeremiah left I was skimming leaves when I came across 2 dead toads, it was not much fun. So I did what any good pool maintenance guy would do, I threw it over the fence, let Arby's worry about it. (Ten bonus points for whomever gets that reference - you can post it in the comments). But out of that act I decided I would do what I could to prevent any toads from dying unnecessarily. To that end I have been doing walk-arounds 2-3 times a day to make sure no toads have fallen into the pool. So far there have been no more dead toads in the pool. Which is good.
About a week and a half ago I did find a grouchy city toad living in our garage though. I named him Benedict, or Benny, after the Benedictine monks because from what I can tell there are not really any female toads within a few miles of our home. I brought him inside and was going to put him in Jeremiah's old terrarium because our garage is not a good place for toads to live. However, Mollie said he was really ugly and that we could not keep him. So I packed him up and took him out to the in-laws so he could live a good country-ish life. Unfortunately, Benny has decided he wants to live in the girls place house. And no matter how many times we move him out into the woods he keeps coming back. Poor guy, he's kind of stupid as well as ugly. I want to bring him back to our house and move him into a habitat where I can take care of him and make sure he does not get himself killed. However, like I said, as toads go he is kind of not pretty looking and his mug kind of scares Mollie so no dice. (Sorry no pics of Benny, the camera really did not like him.
Anyway, the whole point of this was to let everyone know that our favorite amphibian is doing just fine. He has been fruitful and multiplied (a lot) and he is getting some well deserved time with his Mrs. But I also wanted to let you know that if you ever come across a toad, handsome and smart as Jeremiah or as ugly and stupid as Benny, it is your duty as a friend of the blog to do your best to make sure that amphibian is safe. Whether that means carrying him to the other side of the road so he does not have to dodge traffic or feeding him crickets and flies. Excelsior!
