Thinking about the Blue Toad.

 Thinking about the Blue Toad.

 

When the children were little, the old woman had to tell good night stories before they would settle down to go to sleep. Not the three little bears or Goldilocks, but made-up stories based on things they knew. We had many adventures together concerning rabbits, fish, ducks, and assorted critters. Sometimes those critters got names and adventures of their own in my stories. For instance, Ma Bell was the mother rabbit we found running loose in the neighborhood after the young couple who raised rabbits could no longer afford to feed their rabbits. Not sure whether the man or the woman turned them loose, but they would have certainly been coyote bait very quickly had we not caught the one female rabbit. As we took her inside the house, right on the living room threshold, she dropped a baby bunny. She went on to have six babies—enough for each of our three children to have one in each hand. We made up a litter box for the mother rabbit, and she used it like a champ. But we really did not have a good place to keep her since she would make noises in the night that kept the children awake. Finally put her in a very small closet in the bathroom where we had a telephone plugged in on an upper shelf. Got up one morning to find that the mother rabbit had chewed up the phone cord to go into her “nest” for her babies. That is how she earned the name of “Ma Bell.”

 

Our children were born from 1970 to 1979, so the last child thought that he was just as big as the first one. But we thanked God that the older two were very good about watching over him. When our first child was about five years old, he had already been cautioned about snakes out in high grass or anywhere near things that could provide cover for a snake. The old woman was relatively agile back then, so when that child screamed in fear and fell down among the cucumber vines, she sprinted to the fence and was about to heave herself over it when a grin appeared on the child’s face. “It’s a frog, Mom!” he said. Whew! What a relief! After he brought the “frog” into the house, we had a discussion about whether it was a frog or a toad. But meanwhile, little sister sat in her little table chair playing in blue finger paints. Her first request, of course, was “See, see!” So, the “frog” was placed gently on her table amidst the water and the blue finger paint while a trip to the bookcase helped the oldest and Mom to discover that our “frog” was in actuality a toad. Returning to the kitchen to get his toad, the older brother discovered that the toad was missing. It had hopped down from the little table to plop across the linoleum floor—leaving behind blue toad prints. It was easy to find the toad with its blue underside. Of course, the next question from the oldest child was “Can we keep it?” Some discussion about toads and what they ate ensued, but the little boy was happy to know that the toad could take up residence in the flower bed near the back door. For years afterward, the boy guaranteed that any toads found in that vicinity were the famous blue toad!

 

As the children got older, they were more aware of how the wild animals around us needed a bit of help once in a while. They brought up a duck from the lake that had its mouth pierced by a fish hook. They took that duck to the next-door neighbor so that he could remove the hook from its bill. Then they put the duck in a small pool of water and fed it some oatmeal. Two days later, it flew off and quacked all the way back to the lake! Another duck (a female) had been attacked by something and just needed to recoup and rest, so the children brought it inside the yard and let it stay until it felt like leaving again. Strange as it may seem, that duck must have had a mate because it came and lay down beside her. And for years after that, those two ducks—or some just like them—came back every spring to get into the chicken feed and mess up the water bowls.

 

We always had a dog, but one of our dogs had a sneaky habit. He would leave our yard and bring things back to the children. One time it would be a baseball, and the next time it would be a ball glove. The oldest child told the dog that they really needed a bat. Believe it or not, that silly dog brought home a bat the next day! Not sure whose equipment that dog was stealing, but the kids thought they had a real ball player in the guise of a dog!

 

We were so very blessed to live out here on the hill above Lake Wichita. Yes, we had to watch for snakes and other varmints, but we had plenty of room to walk and enjoy the wild flowers and a place to fly kites. And the children were always ready for their dad to get home from work to tell him of their latest “finds” among the wild animals. No phones or video games in those days kept our children entertained, but what they got instead was fresh air, an acceptance of the nature of wild animals, and plenty of adventures that made God’s world valuable to them. Truly wish that kind of life had been available to all children. Nature is just another blessing from God.

 

Rest well, my friends. You are loved.