Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!

What is it about frogs that makes us smile? The first, for me, wasn't Kermit, who's a Johnny-come-lately and doesn't begin to look like a real frog. It was Froggy, who lived in the grandfather's clock on Andy's Gang on Saturday mornings. He was nasty and rude and played cruel practical jokes on Andy Devine (Also known as "Jingles," who said "Hey, Wild Bill, wait for me!" Remember him now?).


I can't remember when I saw my first real frog, perhaps because by the time I was spending more time outdoors I took them for granted. Walking by the edge of a pond, I'd hear them chirp and then splash into the water as if I were a heron or raccoon or some other predator. I couldn't help smiling. No need to be afraid of me, little one. Watch out for that pickerel. The thing with all the teeth.

My little den in the basement has a window that looks out into a window well, about four feet square and five feet deep. We don't know whether it was designed for light, ventilation or escape. If escape, good luck getting out the window and then raising the heavy iron grate on top of the well. I use it in warm weather to stash  house plants, and on permanent exhibit is a small concrete Buddha we bought on Marlboro Street in Keene, New Hampshire. He sits on a slab of quartz I found on a roadside during another trip to New Hampshire.

We moved here about five years ago, and for the first couple of years whenever there was a really heavy rainstorm there would be a frog or two in the window well. Whether they were washed in or fell in because of haste I didn't get a chance to observe. Trying to get out, they would climb to the highest point in the well, which is the top of Buddha's head. I'd climb through the window and catch them in a baseball cap, then escort them upstairs and out the door, bouncer fashion.

But I haven't seen any here in a couple years, and I'm wondering where they went. I did a little Googling around and it turns out I'm not the only one wondering the same thing. There's actually a save-the-frogs organization, called Save The Frogs, and they're holding a big shindig in April. I'll put something up when the time is getting closer.


If I don't croak first.