Adventures

Trial Photos Caught Sticky-Handed Toad Off His Garden Trail

Now that No Mow May is almost over, my garden beds are ready to expose their dirt. My Irises and Tiger Lilies have sprouted up through the soil despite the ground cover I needed to clear. Hardy plants are the best and so are the critters that live underground for the winter months.

They are prepared to take on the challenge of surviving as the Bleeding Heart plant has. As I cleared the debris away, I thought it was odd there were so many oak leaves. We don’t have an oak tree in our yard.

Yes, you’re right, it looks messy outside of the garden bed too. The catchfly plants of last year sprinkled their seeds and overtaken the rocks. (I should go back to my SD card and find a photo of that stage of their lifecycle…I’m sure I took one or more!) Will I pull them? Maybe, maybe not. There are some true weed scoundrels that do have to go. With garden gloves on my hands I’ll be the judge and jury.

The Irises are almost ready to let their buds burst open. Soon they’ll bloom. YAY!

In my short trail across the yard, carrying with me the garden scraps and leaves to toss into the longer border weeds, I had to pause to take photos of the Irises. Of course.

The plant stalks are shorter than normal, so odd. As I leaned in and focused on the buds, something else caught my eye. I glanced down upon a toad who was shocked to have his house and himself exposed. Undercover NO MORE!

Well, hello there little guy. Mind if I take a photo to support my case?

It’s important to note, that the reason why my SD card is full is that I don’t get the perfect shot on my first take. Nope. If I had to take the stand at a trial confessing if I lied about how many photos I do take and not delete them off the card, I’d have to kiss a toad as my sentence. A cute toad, though, only a cute one!

I think he was taking an afternoon sunbath to rinse off the grass and dirt from his sticky sides?

Toads are cute, right? But kiss-worthy, I dunno?

Which photo is better, the one above, or the one below? I stopped taking them with the one below. Playing a nature photographer is serious business. Some subjects smile, and some don’t.

On a side note…Mr. and I took to the trails yesterday on a road trip to visit our oldest daughter at her home. It was a perfect trip that I’ll think of often until our next get-together. I’m so proud of her and the gardens she’s tending to in her own yard. I was so interested in listening to her talk and show me around that I didn’t take one picture. I won’t forget the moments though, the visit is imprinted on my heart.

Soon we’ll get together again.

Until then, I’m ready to welcome the month of June. The crescent moon and the planets aligned this past week. Things are heating up in the world in trials and trails down the roads of uncharted territories.

Moments of solemn silence seem appropriate.

Much to ponder. I’ll do so as I weed my garden beds and place my planters around the yard. I hope the seeds I harvested last fall will grow. I’ll connect with nature to nourish my soul.

My heart and prayers go out to thank those who fought for our freedoms and whose lives were lost in war. Happy Memorial Day weekend to my US friends.

Post Inspiration – Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “trail/trial.” Use one, use both, use them any way you’d like. Bonus points if you use both. Have fun!

PS – Which toad photo do you like better? Do confess, how many ‘not-so-great’ photos do you keep on your SD cards just in case the photo could be used or edited later? Take care, stay safe, and thank you for stopping by to share your thoughts.

38 thoughts on “Trial Photos Caught Sticky-Handed Toad Off His Garden Trail

  1. I like the first picture of your handsome prince. I think the bottom one makes hie butt look big (well, it draws attention to it). Nobody likes that 😏

    The yard is looking good – ready to pop. I look forward to those pictures.

    1. Thanks for your vote, Dan! You’re right – nobody likes their butt to appear larger than it is ;-)!
      It’s fun to be able to finally get out in the yard and dig into weeds and plants. I’ve been envious viewing your photos each week. Your lavender rhododendron in full bloom is so gorgeous! I’m looking forward to some blooms to capture too.
      Good luck with your tech support calls and your interview for next week’s post. Enjoy your week, Dan!

    1. Thanks, John! Happy Holiday to you too. We had a storm roll through today and yesterday – hopefully Monday will be rain free.

  2. Any photo of nature is always good Shelley. So many of the same subject it is hard to decide what to keep so I keep them all and decide later “Why did I keep that?” I guess it’s the “That’ll come in handy one day” syndrome 😂

  3. I am the worst about keeping too many photos on my SD cards. I keep thinking that I need to take the time to cull but… nope! I am so jealous of your frogs! We have yard lizards here but no cute frogs. I think the top picture is sharper but both show the handsome boy (not that I have any idea if it’s a boy or girl frog) off well.

    1. Yay – I’m in great company then. 📷😁 Did you have a hard time sorting through printed photos too? I tended to keep even the blurry ones because I knew why they were blurry and the memories of the moments. Sigh.

      The closest we have to lizards are salamanders. They kind of freak me out. We played with them a lot when I was a kid. I haven’t seen one of them for a LONG time. 🤔
      Toads on the other hand – we have LOTS of them. Tiny to huge in size. I’d like to get a photo of a large one, but they typically only come out at night when I’m sleeping. I didn’t pick this one up to look because I wanted a photo. Plus they tend to urinate when picked up too. If I had braved that ordeal, I might’ve noticed it’s throat color to determine if male/female.
      Thank you for sharing your thoughts – you always get me thinking!!

    1. Hi! Yes, now that you mention that, I see what you’re talking about.
      When I was taking photos it just sat there and didn’t move at all. It’s serious business being a toad.

  4. Shelley – well your post resonates with me and not because I was industrious in the garden. I said pfft to the weeds in this heat. They can wait until next week along with trimming the bushes and sweeping the maple helicopters. I did take a lot of photos this weekend while jaunting around to some big parks. I had to make up for the two weeks the car was in the shop and I was on foot. There is nothing in the world like taking lots of pics with the digital camera. Yes, I too am shutter click happy, but … when you sit down to pick through them, (as I did when the weather got too hot outside), you wonder why the heck you took so many pictures that were the same?! I “get” us taking a critter pic as it might move. I’d have taken a lot of toad pics too. I came home with a dozen photos of one deer face looking at me through the bushes, almost identical. Yes, you think “well, I might have shaken the camera or it might have moved so I’ll click again.” After spending an inordinate amount of time winnowing down shots, next time, I go forth with a new rule – minimal clicks. Click like the olden days when you had those pics developed and each one cost $. P.S. I like the first picture best as it appears Mr./Ms. Toad is surveying its kingdom. 🙂

    1. I bet you and I could sit down and compare contents on our SD cards and have a hoot of a time. I like your idea of minimal clicks.
      In retrospect, I’m thankful that I don’t have to pay for each photo like the olden days, I’d be broke. More importantly, all the clicks has given me training time to know how my camera works and what angles work better for certain shots. It’s part of the discovery process that I enjoy.
      Aw, thanks for the vote – the toad was deep in thought. 🙂

      1. Yes, we could have a hoot, but you at least are shooting by adjusting your camera manually … you have a reason. I am using automatic controls, so I have no excuse, except when it is a critter and I keep getting closer and/or zooming in on it. I thought the toad looked sleepy – you roused it from a dream, so it was deep in thought.

        1. I think you’re right – shooting manually does cause me to take more photos. I feel like I can get one more shot that is better. I do the zooming too.
          Yes, the toad was roused out of its sleeping spot. At least I didn’t hit it with the shovel!

          1. When I’m retired, I am going to study the camera. I spent one Memorial weekend, probably the year after I got the camera, reading the book to shoot manually. Got to the Park, took a bunch of pictures – every one was a dud. So I retreated back to my automatic ways. 🙂

          2. Another great plan for retirement! I signed up for Skillshare and have wasted two years of not taking any lessons. I don’t know how to cancel it. Sigh. I don’t know if you follow Dawn who comments on my blog – she’s been taking camera lessons and takes night photos of the stars.

          3. No, I don’t follow Dawn but next time I see her comment, I will look at her pictures. I follow a woman who is a hobby photography as is her husband (plus he does a lot of drone photography). They are both retired and are in a RV, pulling a Jeep and have been on the road since September from Northern Michigan through the Gulf Coast states and are now in Washington state They have one more stop (relatives), then will head home, some 5,000 miles. They expect to return in July. But they were at a park somewhere early in the trip and they befriended someone at a RV park who took them into a building where they could view stars and the milky way. So she/husband, since there was no light pollution, stayed up into the night and took photos of the Milky Way and stars themselves. She usually does nature photography and has photographed over 150 birds on this trip … we’ll look forward to retirement too. I’ve never heard of Skillshare … sounds like a great idea, but sorry you can’t cancel it. I would rather see videos than just read about how to do something.

          4. Wow – that’s an impressive trip. I can’t imagine doing that now with the gas prices. It’s good they’re on their way back now. 150 birds – wow. I would have a hard time weeding them down to post photos.
            Skillshare is videos – it is a fun way to learn. I should just do a few classes and get back into it.

          5. I jotted down Skillshare to look at when I might have more time to enjoy it – otherwise I’ll be like you and see classes or information, but no time to peruse it. I want to watch a Titanic virtual site where you see all kinds of artifacts on the Titanic. I’ve always been fascinated with it. You pay once and can access to the site for one week, going on as much as possible. Intended to do it Memorial Weekend, now maybe 4th of July – I have to check the site is still up. My current boss was taking courses through “The Great Courses” during the early part of the pandemic when we were slow. He said he enjoyed them.

          6. Yay – that sounds like a great plan. The Titanic has quite the hidden history too. That’s cool they have a virtual site to view the artifacts.

            That’s cool that your boss found something fun to do during the pandemic.

          7. Yes, he really liked those “Great Courses” and had time to watch them at work and still be there with access to his library, etc. if need b. He read a lot too – did a chronology of events of English history, the automobile industry, the UAW … all which he wrote out and I had to type.

  5. Nice toad. Very photogenic. No Mow May? We live the opposite, it’s more like Mow Every Day May! [Slight exaggeration]

    1. Thank you, Ally – the toad did pose nicely.

      Where my daughter lives, NMM is a HUGE deal. She said that some people were very vigilant and quite angry if their neighbors didn’t follow the rule to not mow. I mostly just left my flower beds alone so that any little bug or bee had time to wake up and move on to buds on trees and flowers.
      Your comment about Mow Every Day May reminds me of the meme I saw posted by a friend on Facebook that lives in the same city as my daughter.
      “Adult Peer Pressure: Seeing Your Neighbor Mowing Their Yard” 🤣😂🤣

  6. Hi Shelley
    How fun you are with the toad humor
    And I like the photo below more than the above

    So why did the oak leaves land there? So curious

    1. Hi Yvette, thanks for your vote.
      Across the fields from our house and down the road are oak trees. I’m guessing with all the crazy wind storms we’ve had, the leaves traveled to our yard to rest for the winter months. So far no acorns so no sprouts. Oak trees are messy!

      1. Yes! I imagine they are – and Oak trees also needs lots of space – ewhich you have space for but can tower over and hmmmm

Comments are closed.