Guard Toad

Tonight I went out to mail the tea postcards and discovered my "guard toad" at the front door. I hadn't seen him in a few days. Greg took this photo in early June while I was in DC. I had seen him before that.

He appears to have taken up permanent residence in and around my front flower bed, on the porch and sidewalk. As you can tell from this photo, he is completely unconcerned with the annoying habits of humans.

When I opened the front door tonight he hopped onto the step below the surface of the porch. When I returned from the PO he was still there, in the place I would normally walk to enter my home. Of course, I used the other side of the steps so as not to disturb him, although that seems unlikely given his general disinterest in people.

I've decided I like Mr. Toad (or Ms. Toad - I'm afraid I don't know how to tell the difference). I believe my affection for him started to grow about the time Greg told me he probably eats his weight in bugs every couple of days.

I've seen toads in the backyard this year, too - little ones, big ones and medium ones. Maybe because we've had so much rain they are plentiful. Hopefully it's not because there are more bugs.