My spouse has a love for gardens.
She has put together a lovely water garden on our deck. It's half a whiskey barrel with a molded liner of black plastic. It has one of those cool pump fountains that creates an upside down, bowl-shaped fall of water from a center stem.
All supplies were bought from the Home Depot or Lowes and it wasn't all that expensive. She set it all up in one Saturday. It's really top notch. The plants are "water garden plants".
I haven't a clue what they are other than that. But I'll tell you one thing…frogs love 'em! As a matter of fact, this little frog has made the water garden his "love shack".
By day, he disappears. I assume to search for food and a lady frog. Or perhaps he's got a job? We really don't know what goes on out in the woods you know.
Could be that Bear Dance painting by William Holbrook Beard is the way things actually are when we're not looking.
But I digress…
Around 6:30pm, he returns to the love shack, nestles into his little sunken spot at the base of one of the leafier plants, and starts singing. Singing LOUDLY. The water garden is right outside our bedroom window. He keeps me awake until he decides to give up or a lady friend shows up.
That's OK though. I know what he's up against. Hey, he looks like a frog for cryin' out loud!
If I looked like a frog, I'd want people to understand my dating dilemma and give me some slack too. If singing loudly in the evening, in a custom made love shack, was the best I could do, then I'd hope those within earshot could live with it through the spring.
He's a pretty good singer actually. I've studied the noises he makes and mimicked them to myself (in the shower…nobody was home). He's got about a two octave range. Baritone. Not low enough for bass, not high enough for tenor.
I suspect he's got a following already. I'm not worrying about his success. After all, Bob Dylan and others have sung about froggy:
Froggy went a-courtin', and he did ride, Uh-huh,
Froggy went a-courtin', and he did ride, Uh-huh,
Froggy went a-courtin', and he did ride.
With a sword and a pistol by his side, Uh-huh.
Note: I have not found the sword and pistol yet.