Monday, July 19, 2010

Intruder alert . . .

Zeta and M have gifted us with a stationary bicycle. It lives in the guest/spare room and is oriented toward a television in there. That room is small. To open the day bed fully (for, say, welcome guests) it is necessary to remove the bike, temporarily.

Tomorrow, the plan is for BigEd to put the bike back where it belongs (he moved it out in the first place) and restore the guest/spare room to its gym incarnation.

Today? Early this morning? There was a Bufo Marinus beside that bike. Inside with us instead of outside where it could be as wild as it pleased. Also known as a Cane Toad, it exudes poison from glands in its head if anything attacks and bites it. I didn't plan to do that. But Mew might.

I recognized this particular toad, I thought. I had seen him (or one just like him) hopping away from our front door when I opened it to pick up the morning paper.

If he had stayed outside, he could have enjoyed a long and toadlike existence. As an invader, he became a threat. We dropped a bucket over him.

All went dark . . .

5 comments:

Zeta said...

Do you remember one of your children screaming at the top of their lungs when a toad jumped on a bedroom door? YYYYYYYYyyyyAAAAaaaoooo.... ehco echo echo. The word "their" was used to cover the identity of which child it was.

RANGER said...

I remember that happening. It was a tree frog that got inside and stuck itself to a bedroom door. The screams shocked it so much that it jumped past the screamer and back down the hall. We were able to catch it and put it outside - while trying with all of our might not to laugh.

Megan (Best of Fates) said...

Whoa - it's a poisonous toad?

Now that's a serious intruder.

RANGER said...

Too right, Megan. It can exude milky looking venom from behind its eyes and along the back. It reaches the size of a dinner plate if allowed to do so. I do my best to see that doesn't happen - at least inside our house!

ol Doc said...

Yuck - the memory of those huge squishy frogs makes me shudder. I had to give the dog gallons of milk and egg after flushing her mouth with the hose. That was the treatment after another of her many run-ins with a Buffo. She did love to chase them. Either the hose or the milk/egg combo kept her from being poisoned.