Eeeeeeeeeeeee! SQUEEEEEEEEE!

In the past eight months or so, I have spent a LOT of time digging, hauling, lining, smoothing, filling, treating, landscaping, dechlorinating, filtering, and just generally mucking about to get a healthy, pretty pond fit for amphibian habitation. Today’s discovery was worth every single strand of filamentous algae I’ve had to extract from the filter with a bottle brush and a Q-tip.

Look. Right there, in the middle of the water lettuce. Right there, just hanging out on a leaf. Look closely. See it? No? OK …

… let’s get a little closer.

Found these two hiding under a leaf. Yes, that’s my finger at the bottom of the picture. No, I don’t have unusually large fingers. The toads really are that tiny.

Ron decided to put a penny in for scale. Itty-bitty baby toads the size of Lincoln’s head. Eeeee!

Of course, if it wasn’t Instagrammed, it didn’t happen, so here’s your gratuitous moody-artsy-filter shot of a tiny toad looking pensive.

Have I mentioned how much I love my pond? It wasn’t cheap, and I worked my butt off to install it and get it balanced (and am still working to keep it that way as I wait for the plants to spread enough to shade the entire surface), but these adorable little guys make it worth every dollar and every minute.

Emily