Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Frogs

I have an irrational fear of stepping on frogs. I think this stems back to 7th grade, when I was a fair-skinned emo-wannabe (before emo was even a term), who sat in the backyard on a blanket reading, no doubt a literature piece that I didn't "get", probably something that I would re-read in 10th grade honors English and still "not get".

One of such days, I saw a murmur beneath the blanket. It was a frog. The thought that I could have been sitting on the frog that whole time skeeved me out to no end. Fifteen years later, I cannot walk through my parent's lush backyard without watching where every foot lands, looking for murmurs below.

To add fuel to my frog-filled fear-fire, there is one week in August, the hottest week in the summer, when the frogs come out to play. When we take our dog for a walk, there is bound to be no less than one frog per sidewalk slab. Do you know how many sidewalk slabs we walk across when we take a loop around our subdivision? Neither do I, but I'm guessing it's in the hundreds? I kid you not, I see hundreds (OK, maybe I exaggerate SLIGHTLY; let's say "dozens") of frogs during these dreaded treks in August. I usually make Nick bring a flashlight to look out for the things. Less than a quarter of the way through with the walk, I take over the flashlight duties because he doesn't fan the slabs properly for MAXIMUM frog detection. You see, I take this very seriously.

Why all the frog talk? Well, I went for a jog tonight as a part of my official 2010 Detroit Half-Marathon training. Go me! Go Nick! (He's doing the competitive walk. Not a jogger, my man.) And you guys? I think global warming IS REAL. Because the frogs? Well, it's not even July yet (hey! I have 1.5 hours still...) and the frogs - they are out.

I'm pretty sure I kicked one up the curb. I heard nary a ribbit, but I felt something... soft... propel forth from my new kicks, and well, it's all downhill from here. (Pun not intended, but only mildly funny, anyway.)



Well, this is off-subject, but: a picture of Claire, just because. Claire likes Michigan State. Did you know that?


2 comments:

Amber said...

I could die. Look at that face!!

Meg said...

I wondered if you were stil thinking of doing the half! Woop! When is it?

Frogs skeeve me out too. Once walking my dog, he started sniffing around in the grass and was CENTIMETERS away from mouthing one before I realized what it was and jerked him away in time. Definitely would have been no kisses from pupdog for like months had that happpened. Ick. Frogs.