the triumphant return of door frog. now with 100% more door frog

I was in a bit of a dark mood coming home tonight. Rotten day at work, less-than-ideal weather (it's a little disconcerting how not being able to see the stars at night brings me down), knowing that I need to mow the grass tomorrow, political strife at both home and abroad...what a drag, man.

And then everything changed.

Because Door Frog was back. And he brought a friend.

I highly doubt that either of these amphibian daredevils are the original Door Frog, but that doesn't matter. It also doesn't matter that they are on the siding, not the door. They obviously got the idea to stalk the deck light from Door Frog, that sticky-footed innovator of bug-devouring excellence. As far as I'm concerned, they're all Door Frogs. The more, the merrier.

I've gone to great lengths to ensure that our yard is an optimal habitat for wildlife (Charlie terrorizing the squirrels aside). Sure, we've got a long way to go as far as landscaping is concerned, but I make an effort to plant hummingbird, non-humming bird, bee, and butterfly-friendly plants (the Eastern swallowtails like to set their caterpillars loose in our parsley, and I am glad to sacrifice some for the cause). No chemical fertilizers, insecticides, or herbicides. Ideal habitat for neighborhood amphibians, I would think, and it certainly seems that way.

So salutations, Door Frogs. You have been missed, and your return is cause for celebration. Welcome home.

prom time again

Klaudia's prom is tonight, so we stopped over to take some pictures. We've only got one more year to do this before she graduates! Time flies.

live and learn

Evidently Henry isn't ready to visit the dog park yet. Charlie was great though! We took him for a walk first so he was too worn out to be his normal loud self. Where he would usually be racing along the fence, barking and growling and jumping, tonight he was like, "Oh, you're a dog too? That's great. I guess." And then he let Henry spray him with water, and then he laid down like a pig in slop. I bet it felt good, but I had terrible visions of Mike seeing a muddy people mover and flipping out. Luckily, we had a blanket in the van, so I cleared out the way back and spread out the blanket, basically making a crate behind the third row of seats. Let's hope it holds him long enough for Max to finish soccer practice so we can make a quick Dilly Bar run (they serve doggie ice cream bowls too!) then get this dirty dog home.