TOADally Awesome

We have had a busy couple of days getting the yard ready for our patio and enjoying some time with family.

We took most of yesterday "off" doing a few simple chores around the house and then driving to Seminole for our nephew's fiancee's shower and his "groom's storm." Jon works as a teacher at a Christian school, and the people of his church wanted to throw his fiancee a shower.  Apparently, many years ago, a groom-to-be lamented that the women got to have a party, but not the men.  So one of the men of the church decided to throw a party, and since the bride has a "shower," the manly groom could do one better and have a "storm."  Yesterday while the women of the church wisely stayed inside in the air-conditioning and had a wonderful shower, the men gathered around the grill for some bratwurst, burgers, and beer.  Their gifts were all geared toward the man of the house, so Jon received lots of tools, yard work supplies, and Home Depot gift cards.  Rachel received tons of things for the kitchen and the bath for indoor convenience.

Rachel and I at her bridal shower.

This morning we rolled out of bed rather late and decided to finish prepping the area for the new patio.  We knew that we had to reroute and pound down the ground wire for the electricity so the pole would be buried at least four inches.  Rick started with that task.  I had exposed one end of the pipe and wire for him, so he started to dig up the area next to the wall to bury the other end.

One end of the ground post sticks up out of the soil. We
needed to bury it at least four inches deep so it will rest under
the new concrete patio. This picture also marks its location
in relationship to the wall and the drain pipe.

Rick works on the other end of the ground wire
where it comes down the side of the house.

Suddenly he yelled and jumped up like he was rocket-propelled. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Look!" he said.  And then I saw the reason for his reaction: the ugliest, fattest frog I have ever seen. We were both shocked because neither of us even thought of Florida being a habitat for frogs (although I guess all 50 states harbor them), and Rick certainly did not expect to see one living in a burrow underground!  He got the shovel, picked it up, and flung it over the fence into the marshy, weedy part of our neighbor's back yard.  TOADally awesome!  We hope the little guy finds a happy new home among the ferns and weeds back there. And I hope someday that Rick's heart rate returns to normal!

A picture of rana areolata aesopus, better known as
the Florida Gopher Frog. The one Rick found was as big as
his fist.  Its croak is said to sound like snoring.  (And here I thought
that was Rick in the night!)

While he was digging in the area, Rick also found a buried old telephone cable.  When we bought Gladys, we found old telephone boxes screwed into her walls in at least three different locations.  As each new telephone company came in, they put up their own box and left the others hanging.  The same was true of their wires.  The old wires were just cut, and the new wires were connected for service.  Since Rick and I now only use our cell phones, none of the wires are needed.  We have removed all of the boxes and many of the wires, but this wire was undetected since it was buried in the back yard.  With a little more digging, we pulled up the wire beyond the area where the contractor will dig to put in the concrete forms. We will leave the rest of the wire buried.  We know that the other end is buried under the corner flower garden, safely nestled under roots, mud, landscape fabric, and stone.  There it will remain.

A mound of dirt is all that remains of where the telephone wire was
buried though the back yard.

We also removed the rest of the pavers that formed a path to the north side of the house.  We now are ready for the next phase of making Gladys beautiful by pouring a patio outside her back doors.