The Return of the Frogs

I was shocked and horrified to see several frogs lying dead on the ground throughout the yard while watering the garden a few seasons back .  In hindsight, I shouldn't have been so surprised; I should have realized what might happen when you have a pest control company spray for bugs.  Apparently the spray does not just magically target only the unwanted pests.  I felt rather stupid.

The reason for having a pest control company spray around my house every quarter stems from when I was pregnant and found a tick attached to me after wandering through our previously wooded lot.  Fearing lyme disease or rocky mountain spotted fever from the tick bite and knowing the South's prevalence of poisonous critters, we decided to call in the professionals.  However, after establishing a kinship with the local wildlife in the garden and after seeing dead frogs in my yard, I began to have remorse and questioned the need for more bug spraying. 

After seeing the frogs, I wanted to cancel our pest control.  I also wanted to have a butterfly garden, and, of course, pesticides are a no-no for that.  Mr. Red House, however, was unconvinced.  He does not go outside much, being that he is pretty much allergic to it, so he does not share my kinship with the local critters.  North Carolina is, after all, home to the black widow spider and the brown recluse.  "And," Mr. Red House cautioned, "you know how crazy you get when you see ants in the house."

You just had to bring up the infamous Ant Incident of 2007, didn't you.  I swear those sugar ants were stalking me... 

So anyway, I and the local critters had to somehow convince Mr. Red House to terminate our pest control contract.  Well apparently the local critters got together and decided to send out the big guns:

green anole lizard

Cue little green lizard.  This little fellow lives under our front porch.  We've seen him several times, as he is no doubt living the easy life eating the insects that are attracted to our front lights.  One day as we were debating the whole pest control thing, we came home to find him on our front door.

think cute, think cute, think cute...

The little guy apparently won Mr. Red House over, because after seeing this he turned to me and said, "Honey, I think you should go ahead and cancel the pest control service."

There was much rejoicing from the local wildlife population, and I am happy to report that our frog population is seeing a large resurgence.

frog on Big Lamb's Ears

We'll see what happens if I encounter a venomous spider or *shudder* some sugar ants..